Achieving the Goal of Life
By Omar Suleiman | 2026-01-06T21:25:27.085314+00:00 | Topic: Iman
Achieving the Goal of Life
Omar Suleiman
Opening
As-salāmu alaykum wa rahmatullāhi wa barakātuh. So the title is Upping the Ante, right? And you guys have been listening to lectures all day long, including Khutbatul Jum'ah. So I wanna make sure that you guys actually up the ante.
So I want you to do me a favor and wake up. And the way that you're gonna wake up, usually if I was teaching a class, I'd make everybody stand up and stretch, but I'm not gonna do that. I just want you to do me a favor, inshaAllah ta'ala.
When I say takbir for mercy mission and for this incredible event that they've put together, alhamdulillah, their incredible work, I want you to yell Allahu Akbar at the loudest frequency that you have ever yelled in your life. I want this building to fall apart and rumble, okay? You guys ready? This is gonna wake you up, inshaAllah. Takbir! MashaAllah, mashaAllah.
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, and upon his family and companions, may peace and blessings be upon them abundantly.
The Three Principles of Happiness
Now somebody needs to reassure the authorities that nothing is going on in here. Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the Qur'an:
And hasten to forgiveness from your Lord and a paradise as vast as the heavens and the earth, prepared for those mindful of Allah.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, and rush towards the forgiveness from your Lord and a paradise that is as vast as (السَّمَاوَاتُ وَالْأَرْضِ - as-samawaati wal-ard) the entire heavens and the earth, and it has been promised for (الْمُتَّقِينَ - al-muttaqeen).
I want you to appreciate how special this ayah is just for a moment, because when we talk about the topic of ihsan, before ihsan can be achieved, there has to be something that is called taqwa. And ihsan is a level above, ihsan is a step above. And I was, subhanAllah, reading a book called The Principles of Happiness.
And there is a quote in there. And the book was based on these principles by a man by the name of Jose Addison. And I want you to listen very closely what he said.
He said that there are three levels, or there are three things that are needed in order to live a happy life. Three things. You're taking notes. It's easy, it's not hard, inshaAllah. Something to do, something to love, and something to look forward to. Jose Addison.
Something to do, something to love, and something to look forward to. Many times people go through the motions of this life, and they don't have any real purpose. They go through the motions of this life thinking that they're going to achieve happiness using the same ways and the same methods that so many people have sought to achieve happiness through, and gained absolutely nothing but misery, and regrets, and remorse, because at the end of the day, they felt nothing, they saw nothing.
They saw that their lives had went to waste. And many times people seek, as my brother Ammar would say, to be extraordinary, but they end up being extraordinary. No purpose, no purpose.
Something to Do
And here when we look through these three principles, I want you to think about it before we refer back to the Qur'an. Why is it that we need these three things? If you have two of them, you will not be a happy person. And this is true Islamically speaking too.
But let's look at our lives for a moment. Something to do, something to love, something to look forward to. Whenever a person tries to work towards retirement, and they've worked their entire lives to have an early retirement.
And whenever you're a teenager, whenever you go to college, and you're usually susceptible to all the pyramid schemes, and all those things that tell you that you can get rich and retire by the age of 25, and mashallah you'll be able to sit back. What happens to people when they retire? What happens to people when they have money? What happens to people when they no longer have a necessity of working? You know what they want to do? They still want to work. They start to feel like they're losing meaning in their lives.
So that's why you'll see people, subhanallah, even towards the end of their lives, they have something to love, they have something to look forward to, but they have nothing to do. And because of that, now we need to start thinking of work. They give themselves work.
I need to walk around this much everyday. I need to do this much everyday. Because we all need to feel productive. We need to feel like there is action in our lives. We need to feel like we're working towards something. We need to feel like we're being put to good use, or else we feel like there is nothing left.
Something to Love
Something to love. Many times people are very busy, and they have a lot of work, they make a lot of money, they go through the motions of this life, mashallah, successful in every single aspect except for spirituality. And their families start to fall apart.
Their businesses are expanding. Their wealth is expanding. Their reputation is expanding. But the family is falling apart. The people that are friends with them are just friends with them because they want their money. And they no longer have any meaningful relationships because success has its price.
They've got something to do. They've got something to look forward to. But they've got nothing to love. And life falls apart. The wealth becomes a punishment. The success becomes a punishment in this dunya to them.
Something to Look Forward To
And then sometimes people have something to do and something to love. But you know what happens to celebrities and people who went after fame and who spent their entire lives trying to build their repoire so that they could get to a level where everybody admires them and everybody knows their names. You know what happens to them? They shave their heads bald and take a baseball bat and start beating people's cars.
They commit suicide in hotel rooms. All they say they want, they start having interviews on TV like masakeen, poor people, and say, all I want is to be able to go out with my family and have an ice cream cone without a camera in my face. Ya salam, you had that.
Nothing to look forward to. The dunya wasn't all that it was made out to be. But unfortunately most people will be sheep and they'll go through these motions.
They have nothing. And you know what dear brothers and sisters, one of the most dangerous things from a deen perspective, one of the worst things that can happen to your faith is when you become part of status quo. Whenever you are on the brink of hypocrisy, because the only thing that you do is you meet the standards of society.
The Danger of Meeting Status Quo
The only thing that you do is you give just enough charity so that people won't say, hey, you need to give some more charity. You go to the masjid just enough so people don't say, hey, you need to go to the masjid. You do just enough, you give just enough back so that people accept you, so that you're meeting society standards.
And why is that on the brink of hypocrisy? What are the two hardest salawats according to the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallAllahu 'alayhi wa sallam)? I can't hear you guys. Fajr and Isha. Now mashaAllah when we look at Isha salah, if you go to any masjid in the country, you'll find that Isha is the most crowded salah and usually Fajr comes at a close number two.
So we can all say mashaAllah there's no hypocrisy in the ummah, right? We're all doing so well. Or maybe Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallAllahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said that because you know it's hard to wake up for Fajr because you might oversleep and so on so forth. Why did the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallAllahu 'alayhi wa sallam) say that? What was the context of that? The context of that dear brothers and sisters, is that the munafiqeen, the hypocrites, would not bother themselves going to Fajr and Isha because at those times you didn't have chandeliers and lights and those types of things.
You go to Fajr and Isha, nobody would know you were there anyway. So hey, I'm meeting society standards. Look, I'm there for zuhr, asr, maghrib. Think about that for a moment. Meeting status quo. Making sure that everything is okay in other people's eyes.
Making sure that I'm doing just enough. I give just enough. I do just enough so people will say, mashaAllah he's a good brother, mashaAllah she's a good sister.
And in reality you know what you're doing? You're just as guilty as Tiger Woods when he gets caught sleeping with 20 women and he stands up on a stage and he says, I am so sorry. Or John Edwards in the United States, the senator, the people's champion, who got caught cheating on his cancer-stricken wife after they lost their son in a car accident. And everyone's analyzing how sincere will his apology be on national TV.
I am so sorry. Now before that happens, these individuals, these people who get caught and exposed, they were picture-perfect individuals. They were in the magazines with their families holding their kids. MashaAllah, a role model for society. But in reality you know what they were guilty of doing? They were putting a pretty face to a very ugly relationship.
And many times we do that with Allah (جل وعز - Jalla wa 'Azza). We put on a pretty face for an ugly relationship, for a very dysfunctional relationship. But society can't know how bad it is. And think about that for a moment, dear brothers and sisters.
Those people when they get caught, are they sad? Are they saying sorry because they actually feel remorseful? Or are they saying sorry because they face the consequences, the societal consequences of those actions because they got exposed? Where were you when you were actually in the process of committing all of the sin? It's just because they got exposed.
The Quranic Answer
Now let's take this back to our discussion about ihsan. Remember we said that there are three principles of happiness. What are they? Hurry up, say them back to me. You guys need to wake up. Something to, and then, and then.
All of this is answered in the ayah that I read:
وَسَارِعُوا - And rush, something to do.
إِلَىٰ مَغْفِرَةٍ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ - To the forgiveness of your Lord, something to love.
- And a paradise that is as vast as the heavens and the earth. Allahu Akbar. They're figuring it out now and they're writing books on it.
But Allah already spoke it 1400 years ago. Subhanallah. And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says:
- That has been prepared for those who are conscious of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, and their being conscious of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala leads them to fear Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, and be in awe of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, and love Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
It's not just any type of consciousness. Because sometimes you're aware of someone watching you, but you don't respect the presence of that person enough to really fear them. You're conscious of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Understanding Taqwa
And because you're conscious of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, you watch yourself. And taqwa, dear brothers and sisters, we said it's a prerequisite to ihsan. Before we talk about ihsan, we have to talk about taqwa.
And to summarize taqwa in one sentence as the scholars say, taqwa is to avoid al-ma'asi, to avoid the sins. As Umar ibn al-Khattab (رضي الله تعالى عنه - radiAllahu ta'ala anhu) said, when you're walking through bushes, thorny bushes, and you're making sure that you're not getting poked. And if you get poked, you don't keep walking and letting your body tear up.
When you get poked, you come back into your path. Because before we can talk about excelling, we need to stay away from those things. We need to make sure that the relationship between us and Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala does not have anything that will make it deficient, that will make it dysfunctional, that will make it a pretty face to an ugly relationship.
So Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says:
Ibn Ata'a (رضي الله تعالى عنه - radiAllahu ta'ala anhu), he has a beautiful tafsir of this ayah. Why does Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala talk about something to look forward to in Jannah? Because in dunya, you see people who have it all, who get all the millions of dollars that they want, who buy a private island, and they're still miserable because this is it. There's nothing left.
He says:
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, because of that, the psychology, think about it. He has made the Akhirah, the place where He gives the believers their reward. Allahu Akbar.
Because this world cannot fit what Allah wants to give us. Doesn't have it. This world cannot fit what Allah wants to give us.
And because Allah has honored the believers, He has given them too much dignity and too much honor to give them something that can be given to them or to give them in a world that doesn't have any eternity. Allah wants to give us something that lasts.
Is everlasting and better.
The Definition of Ihsan
Now Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala is going to give us the definition of Ihsan. Now that we make sure that there's nothing because you know what, I don't care how good, I don't care how many flowers you bring to your wife. If you're cheating on your wife, it's not gonna help.
I don't care how nice your words are to your wife, to the person that you love. If your actions are showing nothing but disrespect, then those words become nothing. Taqwa.
Making sure that everything is saleem. I have peace with my Creator. I'm at peace with my Creator. I'm aware of Him and that's what drives me. Now Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala is gonna give us the definition of Ihsan:
Those who give in both hardship and in ease, and those who swallow their anger, and those who pardon people. And Allah loves al-Muhsinin. Allah loves those who excel.
Giving in Hardship and Ease
Think about this for a moment. You know, dear brothers and sisters, whenever there is a fundraiser, everyone's gonna be looking around for the wealthy. If I'm doing the fundraiser, I'm gonna be looking around, I'm gonna ask the organizers of this conference.
I'm gonna say, who are the usual donors? Who are the millionaires in this conference? Who are those who always give? Where are the doctors? Where are the engineers? Where are the people that are high level? Those are who we need to identify to give fi sabilillah. And no one's gonna look to the one who's having a hard time in his life, and say, hey, you need to give fi sabilillah. No one's gonna look to the blue collar worker and say, hey, give fi sabilillah.
No one's gonna say that to him. People don't expect it. But Allah expects it. People don't expect it. Society doesn't expect it. What society expects is that those who have lots of money have to give a portion back.
So celebrities and athletes who care nothing about the world, and who care nothing about social justice, and who care nothing about the starving children in Africa, will make sure that they establish a charity foundation because that's what society expects. But no one's gonna come up to you when you're having trouble paying your bills, and say, akhi, give fi sabilillah. Because it's not expected of you.
But the muhsin, the one who excels, expects that of himself. He puts himself to the test. And that's why the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said:
(Sunan an-Nasa'i Hadith 2526)
That one dirham exceeded in barakah and reward 100,000 dirhams.
Think about that for a moment. How is that possible, ya Rasulullah? Because sahibul dirham, the guy who gave one, he only had two. Whereas the guy who gave 100,000 had alf alf, he had a million. A thousand by a thousand. So which one suffered more as a result of what he gave? The guy who gave one. That one dirham means more in the sight of Allah (جَلَّ جَلَالُهُ) than the 100,000 dirhams.
Why? It wasn't expected. It wasn't expected. What is ihsan, dear brothers and sisters? Whenever Jibreel (عليه السلام) asked the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم),in hadith Jibreel:
(Sahih Muslim Hadith 8)
That you worship Allah (جَلَّ جَلَالُهُ) as if you see Him. And if you can't see Him, then you know what? You know He sees you. And that's what drives you.
No one expects you to give whenever you're in hardship. But you know what? Push yourself to give. Push yourself to give. Not because people expect it from you. Not because society has those standards. But because your standard is with Allah (جَلَّ جَلَالُهُ).
Swallowing Anger
- And those who swallow their anger.
You know, everyone expects you to have a cool head and to not have a bad temper. When everything is okay. But if someone was to walk up to you and to call you a name, or to say something about your mother, or to offend you, or to insult your qabilah or your tribe, or whatever it is.
Then society expects you to respond. No one's gonna tell the guy that just got offended, hey, you have no right to respond. No, you have every right to respond.
That's justice. You have every right to respond to that attack. You have every right to respond to that assault. You have every right to respond to that disrespect. Everyone expects you to respond. But you know what? That person has a different standard.
- Those who swallow their anger. You know, subhanallah, when we talk about anger, you know, it's not controlling your temper when someone comes to you and someone offends you, and you say, may Allah forgive you. Allahyaghfir lak yaakhi.
Allahyasamhaak yaakhi. May Allah forgive you. You're actually using that dua as an attack, because you're telling the guy that you're wrong. May Allah forgive you. You're yelling it at him. Everyone expects you to do that.
Or if it shows on your face, or if you go... Huffing and puffing, right? Clenching your fists. Letting it show on your face. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم), with Abdullah ibn Umm Maktoum.
You know what he did? A'abasa. You know what a'abasa is? This. Literally, the two lines that you would see in your forehead, that's abus.
If a person just does this. Not, la hawla wa la quwwata illa billah. Not, may Allah forgive you and may Allah do away with you.
No. Abus. But he's a muhsin (صلى الله عليه وسلم). He's the greatest muhsin. Allah holds him to a higher standard. And you know what? You should hold yourself to a higher standard. Just because people expect you to respond. Just because it's justice for you to respond. Hold yourself to a different standard. And swallow your anger.
And say, jazakallah khair. Jazakallah khair. Let it go.
You know why? Because you want Allah, who has every right to be angry with you and I. To not be angry with us on the day of judgment.
Pardoning People
And then finally Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says:
- And those who pardon people.
If someone takes your rights, and this is the difference between an eye for an eye and a turn your other cheek. It's right in the middle. If someone takes your haq from you, you have every right to request it back.
You have every right to demand justice. Islam gives you that right. But Islam tells you what?
Allah commands you and joins you with justice and compassion.
What is the ihsan that Allah is talking about? Compassion. Because justice without compassion will be worthless. You should show mercy. You should show compassion. You'll be rewarded inshaAllah. But if you choose to take your right, that's fine.
If you don't:
That is a matter that requires determination. His reward is with Allah as Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in surah Ash-Shura. No one expects you to say, let it go.
Society expects you to take your right back. But if you're a muhsin, like Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (رضي الله تعالى عنه) I want you to imagine the situation, dear brothers and sisters. Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (رضي الله تعالى عنه his daughter Aisha رضي الله تعالى عنه) was slandered, with the worst slander, accused in her chastity, and that hurt the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) who Abu Bakr loved more than Aisha, and that hurt his own daughter.
Not only that, but one of the men who passed the slander was Mistah, a relative who Abu Bakr رضي الله تعالى عنه used to give charity to on a routine daily basis. You imagine, if it turns out that the one who caused your daughter and your most beloved Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) the one who caused them that pain, was one that you used to give money back, that you used to give money to all the time. If anything, you can go to the guy and say, look, I'm not gonna beat you down, I'm not gonna beat you with a baseball bat, but give me back the money.
If anything, it's only normal. We would expect that. We would do that. Go to him and say, at least give me that money. While I was giving you money to live, you were slandering my daughter, give me my money back. Or at least, go to him and say, you should be ashamed of yourself.
I don't want the money back, but you should be ashamed of yourself. Abu Bakr (رضي الله عنه) when he found out about the slander of Aisha (رضي الله تعالى عنه) he only said one thing. He said, subhanAllah, it was mistah. I'm not gonna give him charity anymore. Seriously. I'm not going to give him charity anymore? That's it?
But on top of that, Allah Azawajal reveals in the Qur'an:
Let them forgive, and let them pardon. Don't you love that Allah will pardon you? SubhanAllah. Wallahi, if we remember this ayah all the time, it would completely refine our khuluq and our character, and completely redefine our interactions with one another. Wouldn't you love that Allah forgives you, and pardons you? Because you know what, on the day of judgment:
(Sahih al-Bukhari Hadith 103)
Whoever is held accountable. Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم) says.
And another riwayah:
(Sahih al-Bukhari Hadith 6537)
Ask for the one who is asked on the day of judgment. He will perish. And Aisha (رضي الله عنها) said, ya Rasulullah, but doesn't Allah say:
Ask for the one who receives his book in his right hand. He'll have an easy accountability. Rasulullah says (صلى الله عليه وسلم):
ذَلِكَ الْعَرْضِ - That's the presentation of your deeds. But if Allah starts calling you out on each and every single one of your deeds, عُذِّبَ You will perish and you will be punished.
(Sunan at-Tirmidhi Hadith 1924)
Whoever does not show mercy, mercy will not be shown to him. You want Allah to pardon you, pardon others. Because you're seeking the pleasure of Allah (سبحانه وتعالى).
- And Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) loves those who excel.
Seeking Allah's Forgiveness
And one more ayah, dear brothers and sisters. Allah continues:
If they commit a fahisha, a sin, something that is not befitting. أَوْ ظَلَمُوا أَنْفُسَهُمْ Or they wrong themselves. They don't remember, oh wait, the community is gonna say this. Oh wait, now my career is over. Now my reputation is gonna be dragged through the mud. Remember, they're thinking only for Allah. ذَكَرُوا الله They remember Allah.
فَاسْتَغْفَرُوا لِذُّنُوبِهِمْ So they say, they ask Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) for forgiveness. And Allah consoles the believers:
?(سبحانه وتعالى) Who would forgive your sins except for Allah
- And they would never be able to bring themselves back to that same sin over and over and over and over again knowingly.
Being aware of Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) watching them. Dear brothers and sisters, all of this that we just described is ihsan. All of this is called ignoring society's standards.
Ignoring the status quo. Ignoring what people expect of you. And looking to what Allah expects of you. And looking to the pleasure of Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala). And not worrying about what other people say. And not worrying about what other people think. Only being concerned with the opinion of one, Allah.
The Ultimate Reward
And I just want to end with one thing, dear brothers and sisters. And I want you to think about this. Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) says in the Qur'an:
"For those who have ihsan is al-husna. Those who excel they will have an excellent reward and more. Now al-husna is al-jannah."
And we already mentioned here what Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) mentioned, what He has prepared for us in terms of al-jannah. And that it's something that's not befitting to be given in this dunya. Because if it's given in this dunya, then it won't fit.
And if it's given in this dunya, then it won't last. And dear brothers and sisters, the sahaba ask Rasulullah (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - Salla Allahu Alaihi wa Sallam), we understand husna. We understand that Allah will give us al-husna, al-jannah.
What's more than jannah? What could possibly be more than jannah? What is waziyadah? And what did the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - Salla Allahu Alaihi wa Sallam) say?
(Sahih Muslim Hadith 181)
Looking at the face of Allah. The one who you were working for the whole time. The one who when you used to come to salah, as the brother was mentioning, the shaykh was mentioning, you were coming بِقَلْبِ مُشْتَاقٍ A heart that was missing Him.
Looking forward to that conversation, that dialogue with Allah. The one that you were remembering when anyone was harming you, you would say, الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ Allah will have something better. The one who when any hardship struck you, you remembered Him and you said:
We belong to Him and to Him we return anyway.
That one, Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, getting a chance to stare at His face. And some people get to stare at Him in al-jannah everyday. Some people have it twice a day. Some people have it once a week. Getting
a chance to consistently look at Him Subhanahu wa Ta'ala because you love Him. And that love that you had for Him, it drove you.
Everyone has something that drives them. Everyone has something that gets them out of bed every morning. Everyone has something that drives them to work and gets them through the day. The believer has pursuing the love of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. And even if... And listen very closely to this. The mentality of the muhsin is as such.
Even if Allah did not have a jannah prepared for us or a hellfire from which we seek refuge in Him, you still would not disobey Allah. You would still love Him. And that would still be enough of a driving force.
As Umar ibn al-Khattab (رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ - Radi Allahu Ta'ala Anhu) said about Suhayb al-Rumi (رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ - Radi Allahu Ta'ala Anhu). Even if there was no heaven or hell, even if Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala did not prohibit disobedience, He would never be able to disobey Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. Because that's how intense His love is for Him.
Practical Application
I want you to think, dear brothers and sisters, the next time you're in a situation, the next time you're in a gathering, the next time you think about who you are, the next time you think about the hadith of al-ghurba, of being strange, ask yourself, are you even ascending amongst your family members? Are you even the muhsin in your family? Or are you at a level less than your parents, less than your brothers and sisters? You need to ascend and set a different standard for yourself.
Because you know what happens? We get divided into these cliques. You have the religious crowd. You have the secular crowd. You have the crowd that's in between. They'll perform all the rituals and things of that sort, but whenever there's a real inconvenience in life, they'll go back to the secularism.
And we belong to one of these crowds somehow. You get fit into a crowd. Don't worry about the crowd. Think about Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. And if you are concerned with what Allah thinks of you, then you won't care what other people think of you. And that will drive you.
Have any of you ever heard of Maslow's hierarchy of needs? Raise your hand if you have. What is the top level of Maslow's hierarchy of needs? Somebody tell me. Self-actualization.
Self-actualization. You know what the definition of self-actualization is? That the person becomes independent of the opinion of others. Subhanallah. The person has security, a sense of security, self-esteem, confidence, self-actualization, realizing that they don't need to worry about what other people think of them. They've set new standards for themselves. They have a mission. They have a vision.
And what do we know from Sufyan (رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ - Radi Allahu Ta'ala Anhu)? What did he say?
If I have your love, oh Allah, then everything becomes worthless. Because everything that's on top of this dirt is in and of itself dirt.
If I have your approval, if I have your love, if I have your standard, if I have your guarantee, and if I have your pleasure, your Ridwan, I don't care about anything else.
The next time you find yourself in a fundraiser, and you find yourself that, you know, I'm thinking about, well, I don't have too much money, I'm struggling, give, give to show Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that I'm only worried about what you think of me. The next time someone offends you or insults you, and everyone expects you to respond, swallow your anger and smile in their face and say:
Do you have any advice?
takes a right from you, forego that right, make dua for that person, and say, Oh Allah, I pardon that person in hopes that you would pardon me.
And the next time you go into your salah, make sure that the only one you're concerned about watching you is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And you visualize yourself standing in front of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in a dialogue with Allah azza wa jal. And with that, dear brothers and sisters, we would achieve taqwa, and we would achieve ihsan, and we would achieve the ridwan of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Closing Dua
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to grant it to us. We ask Allah to love us. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to make us amongst those who love Him. And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to make us amongst those upon whom He lavishes praise. Because you know what, dear brothers and sisters, right now, what is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala saying to the malaika? Allah is saying to the angels that reported to Him, said, we found this majlis, we found this gathering of people remembering You. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is saying, if He loves us:
(Sahih al-Bukhari Hadith 7485)
Oh Jibreel, I love that person. So you love Him too. So Jibreel will love Him.
And Jibreel alayhi salam will go and will call upon all of the inhabitants of the heavens. And say:
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala loves this person.
So you should all love Him too. (فَيُحِبُّهُ أَهْلُ السَّمَاءِ - fayuhibbuhu ahlus-sama) And so all of the inhabitants of the heavens love Him. And as for the earth, the people of the earth, the inhabitants of the earth, Rasulullah (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - Salla Allahu Alaihi wa Sallam) says:
The love of the people is placed in their hearts. They start to love that person.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allows it to descend upon them. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala when He sees this gathering, inshaAllah ta'ala, Allah asks the angels, what are they coming together for? Why are they here? What do they want? And Allah knows the answer. And it's just to remember you on a Friday night when they could have been out partying, when they could have been out at some da'wah, some social gathering, when they could have been out here or there, they chose to come and remember you.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says to the angels, bear witness that I have forgiven all of them. I have forgiven all of them. And the angels say, but ya Allah, there's that person amongst them who's only here because his family dragged him.
There's that person who's there because you know what, he wanted to go meet his friends, social gathering, whatever. There's that person that's there for some business connection, something like that. And what will Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala say? He's forgiven too.
Because no person accompanies such people or sits in such gathering except that he would be forgiven. So we ask Allah to forgive us and make us from al-muhsineen. Allahumma ameen.
JazakumAllahu khayran ya ikhwani wa akhawati. Aqoolu qawli hadha wa astaghfirullah li walakum wa salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.