Key to Success
By Yahya Ibrahim | 2026-01-12T21:03:54.635054+00:00 | Topic: Iman
Key to Success - Yahya Ibrahim
Opening
أَسْلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ
بسم اللهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ
Khutbah al-Hajah (خُطْبَةُ الْحَاجَةِ)
Always and forever we begin with the praise of Allah, we send our prayers of peace upon the Nabi صلى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ with firmness and conviction that none is worthy of worship but Allah and that Muhammad صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ is his worshipping slave and final messenger.
Introduction
الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ
It's been a while since I've had an opportunity to stand in front of you here in Perth and it's something Wallahi I do miss. Although I speak in different parts of the world and in different places in Australia, it's always nice at home because I don't have to travel very far. Literally 20 minutes and I'm in my own car so I don't need anyone to pick me up or drop me off. الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ
Today inshallah, it's really the intent behind it to talk about success. And I think this is something that if you were to ask any human being at any point in their life: What do you want? Like what do you really want? At the very core of it, it's like I want to be happy. And sometimes we confuse material success for happiness. Sometimes at the expense of genuine happiness we push ourselves towards something that actually will not make us happy, although we know other people might estimate it as success.
And I think there's a lot of problems that society faces in terms of materialism, greed, envy. Could you imagine that Allah cautions the Prophet Muhammad صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ as a Prophet of Allah and other Prophets before him:
Quranic Ayah
"Don't let your eyes extend to other people. Those who we may have given (زَهْرَةَ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا - zahratul-hayati-dunya) - a fragrant flower from this worldly life. Something you know when you look at it, it's beautiful. When you smell it, even before you're near it, it's magnificent. But a flower's life is temporal and it's short-lived. And it's not always recurrent. And it's under attack and duress." The life that is given in that example of the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ: (زَهْرَةَ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا لِنَفْتِنَهُمْ فِيهِ - zahratul-hayati-dunya linaftinahum fih) "Don't look to that life" because it is nothing more than a test in this temporal worldly life. So keep your eyes focused on something that is greater.
Heart's Tranquility
So I want to ask today - it's questions that I ask myself, my family, you. I want you to think about these issues. And I want you to think about what is the difference between happiness and success. What makes you really happy?
See Allah talks about that in the Qur'an in different ways. Allah talks about (الْقُلُوبُ - al-quloob) - heart of tranquility:
"Surely it is but through the remembrance of God, Allah, that the heart finds repose, tranquility, joy and happiness."
The Prophet's Example
The Sahaba would become confused sometimes. They look at the Prophet صلّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ and they would be surprised. They would say, this man صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - this created being, he's a human being. He's like us, he's flesh and blood. We know that. He stands at night until his feet swell although he's promised forgiveness by God. Although he is the final messenger. Although there is none after him who will call better than him to the path that is straight, that leads to paradise. And they would say to him: "You're forgiven, like why? Why do you do this?"
He would say to the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ:
(Sahih al-Bukhari Hadith 4836)
"Should I not be a thankful slave for all the happiness I have?"
The Key to the Gates of Happiness
That's what Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim in (مِفْتَاحٌ دَارِ السَّعَادَة - Miftah Dar As-Sa'adah) - The Key to the Gates of Happiness. The summary of this talk is a summation of that book. He begins by talking about that the joy of the Prophet صَلَّى الله عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ was that after exertion in that which was pleasing Allah, and only for Allah, he felt joy. And therefore he would say to Bilal whenever depressed صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ whenever in difficulty, whenever something was troubling him, he would turn to Bilal and he'd say:
(Sunan Abu Dawud Hadith 4985)
"Call the prayer. Isn't it time yet? Like he was waiting for the next prayer. Ya Bilal, let it bring us comfort."
The Story of the Absent Father
Between happiness and success. What makes you really happy? Have you ever fasted that long day? I know it's short in Perth currently anyway. Like have you ever fasted that? Because sometimes when you hear those statements of Ali رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ he would say: "If I die, the things that I will miss the most is fasting in the midst of the summer in thirst."
Bilal, that's bizarre! Is it like punishment for himself? No. Is it like some kind of penance? No. It's that he knows I've done something maybe others don't do, have failed in, could not succeed in, in what is true success. And that brought him delight between him and Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى
Have you ever fasted that day? Talking to my father - he's in Ramadan, it's in Canada. Like they break fast 9 p.m. and it's in the summer and it's humid. I know you say Toronto, really humid? It gets warm kind of in a Canadian way. He's fasting till 9. And I say: "Why don't you come to Perth in the summer? In Ramadan 5 o'clock." He goes: "All my life I've been fasting. I'm used to this. It's my habit. See, it's what I'm used to. I could never imagine not fasting." I say, listen: "Why don't you pray Taraweeh at home? Don't go to the masjid. They used to start Taraweeh 11:45 p.m., finish at 2. Allahu Akbar. Ya Haqq, stay home." He goes: "I know. I like it. I enjoy this. I've become accustomed year after year to this habit."
Muscle memory is where your body knows what to do without your brain actively thinking to do it. We've all seen that YouTube video where the guy's talking and he catches a ball. He wasn't looking. It's a natural motion. Race car drivers - they're going 300 kilometers an hour. If they have to think about when they turn, they die. They've trained themselves to such a degree that I can't do anything but drive that car and go that quick. I've become an adrenaline junkie.
And for us, we need to rediscover that work ethic of ibadah towards Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى.
It's tough to talk to people about khushu' and salah. You know, people think when you talk about success it's gonna be about: "You know, I wanna be a good husband." Yeah, start with prayer. "What does that have to do with being a good husband?" Everything. Makes you on time. Your wife will like that because you gotta keep yourself according to a clock of worship. You don't fit salah in your life. You fit your life around salah. Everything is around salah. Just like today you said: "Before, no no I'm gonna pray Maghrib and then I'll come because surely the shaykh isn't gonna start 7." You fit everything around salah. "Where will I pray if I arrive?" You begin to think in terms of thoughts of success.
That connection to Allah empowers us to becoming better and better human beings. So we want to talk about the memory that we seek to have within our body that is reflective of our ibadah to Allah. Any of you who have been to Hajj or been to Umrah - anytime you've come back and then you hear that Mecca adhan or that Medina adhan, or you see that short clip or you see a picture of the Green Dome, or you see something similar to that - your heart, it just shakes, flutters for a little bit because your mind and your body, it's almost as if your soul goes back to where you experienced happiness and joy and tiredness and at times difficulty and hardship.
Main Discussion: Success vs Happiness
We're going to begin our discussion insha'Allah with those very real questions: Success in that worldly sense versus happiness in the true sense of the heart.
A brother once back in Toronto, masha'Allah, he was an engineer - software engineer - and he had a nice job. He got married masha'Allah. He's a friend of mine. And he had two beautiful children who everyday he'd walk with to the masjid. He made sure that he bought a home near masjid, near Isna, which is the larger masjid in Mississauga there. It was just walking distance. He could walk to the masjid with his two kids. They grew up going to the maktab classes, the Qur'an classes in the masjid.
For about 7-8 years, he was happy doing the job he was doing. And because he was an honest, diligent, intelligent, young Muslim man, he was very progressive. And they put him on a fast track: "Let's push you forward because we can trust you. You don't overbill. You don't buy things and claim them on company tax. You don't do any of that. You're the guy we want."
"Really? Masha'Allah. Listen, we got a job for you. There's a new opening. We're going to create a role for you." "What is it?" "It's going to require a bit of travel." "How much?" "About 2, maybe 3 weekends a month." "No no no, but I have a family and my wife..."
He went home and he said: "Listen, I got this job. They're going to give me an extra $20,000 a year. I can buy you a new car. We can get a bigger house - a little bit bigger. Not one garage, two garage. It'll have more room. The kids are growing. They need a bigger bedroom." So you begin to rationalize all those things. "I don't know, but how long will you be gone?" "I won't be gone. I might come home a little bit later in the day."
And that once happy family that ate at the same dinner table, that walked to the masjid together, that attended every Saturday and Sunday, that was a rock of that community, disintegrated before our very eyes, before my very eyes.
And I would sit for hours talking to this brother. I say: "Yahya, I don't know how I got here." And I know how we got there. And it's a warning to you and I that sometimes for $20,000 we lose children.
Sometimes for an extra shift driving a taxi, you lose your kids - not now, but when they're 18. Because that father that used to walk with them to the masjid, who used to take them to Quran class, who used to help them, who used to read with them, who used to struggle in his ibadah, who yes had ambition but knew what job to take that was good for the family and what job to leave that was good financially, he had a little bit of taqwa sense.
Taqwa sense, not common sense. See, common sense would tell you $20,000. You could say we could go to hajj. We could go to hajj next year $20,000. But what happens is that the children who loved you and grew up with you, they begin to disconnect. And the only thing that happens is that when you come home - because you've been away for so long - your wife leans on you to be that primary disciplinarian. So your wife says to you: "Hey, you've been away. I can't get Ahmed to do his work. Tell him to do his work." As soon as you walk through the door: "Ahmed, where's your homework?" Everything becomes command based. You're negative. Everything to that son who's 11 years old is put down and shame. "How come you didn't do better?" "Well you weren't there to help me with my math," he should say.
The absence of our males in our communities is one of the leading problems for much of the difficulties that we see in our young maturing adults. It pains me wallahi sometimes when I drive by Albany Highway and I drive by Pot Black and I see some of our boys - some of our boys, our Muslim boys - standing outside smoking and drinking because there's an absence. There's success. See what you will see is that that same father, he will drive masha'Allah a brand new car, a nice car. And the mother alhamdulillah she has, you know, a little bit of extra expense that she can pay towards other things.
Every dollar you spend on your child is a savings. My father, I remember Allah and I refer to, you know, my family in particular because I didn't grow up in a rich family. Like my father, yeah masha'Allah, he was an engineer, but every dollar he made, he spent on me, my brothers and my sisters. Every year he would pay for a plane ticket for seven years: "Go study, go learn about the deen, go." Every year he would send our family as young children to Egypt. He would break his back to earn enough money for our tickets so we could learn our culture and speak our language and learn the Quran to have what other people don't have - not in material, but in a love for our home and our community.
And therefore, you know, when you invest in your children, the moment you invest in your children, the moment your savings plan is that I'm going to educate my son, I'm going to put money in him to learn the Quran, to learn archery, to learn how to swim, to go to take one dough, to go from one class to the next. I remember my father wallahi until I graduated from high school, he would pick me up and drop me off every day at school. He would leave work, pick me up, drop me off, go back to work. He worked near where we lived and where we studied. I say: "I could walk home." He goes: "Yeah, I know, so do they. They
Teaching Adab
Brother Zaki might even be in the audience. He's one of our teachers at the Langford Islamic College. He said: "Brother Yahya, you know if you come to our school, you'll see some of our staff they're wearing the bright - even I wear it - the bright yellow traffic control masha'Allah. And sometimes we have to be very, you know, harsh move."
So brother Zaki, he's standing there and he said: "Brother Yahya, for one week I stood there every day, every parent, every child that came in. I would say I was the first one to say. I'm the one that begins." And I thought: "Let me wait this week, see how many parents - parents who give us their children, who come, have spent money for their children at an Islamic school - let me see how many of them will begin with the thing that opens the gate of Jannah."
(Source Name)
The Prophet
And he said: "Wallahi brother, all this morning, every day we would talk about it." He said: "Wallahi brother, one family today. One family."
Why did this conversation start? My young son Adam, he was sitting on my chair in my office and brother Zaki walked in. And I said to Adam: "Stand up." He said: "You know sheikh Yahya, I've never had this, seen this. I've been giving salam. No one says salam." He said: "Stand up, give salam to your uncle." He's five, he doesn't understand, but he needs to learn to understand.
Those things cannot be taught in school. They cannot be taught by friends. They will never learn it through the internet, through television. Your children will never learn adab - the essence of the message of the Prophet, the thing that gives character, that makes you a good man, that will be a good father and an amazing husband - that comes through learned behavior for the most part.
The Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ grew up that way. For the first five years of his life, he was put out to study Arabic and so on with a wet nurse, someone who looked after him in the desert away from diseases that could bring harm and stuff from the city life of Mecca. But after five years of age, all of the children would be brought out of the desert when their bodies were a little bit stronger. And then they would be given - all of the sons would be given to الْقَوْمِ The word قَوْمٌ in Arabic means to the men of a community, because men raise men. And it is a key to success for your home and for your family and to your people.
True Happiness
Happiness arrives from giving up what others presume is monetary success to please Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى and to build a home that will remain pleasing to Allah and his Nabi Muhammad صلى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ
The Second Example: Hypocrisy (Nifaq)
The second example I want to give you after the absent father is that of hypocrisy - nifaq. See hypocrisy - the Arabs they didn't know hypocrisy until after the migration of the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ to Medina. If they hated the Prophet: "I hate you, I disbelieve in you, I don't like you."
But when the Prophet صلّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ moved to Medina and he began to consolidate a little bit of authority, some who wanted authority with him pretended to be along with him صلّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ . And what that meant was that they would pretend to believe in God when in their heart was no iman. And therefore this concept of munafiq became a part of Islamic theology. We began to differentiate what is hypocrisy.
And the word nifaq comes from that word nafaq, meaning a tunnel. And a munafiq, he is characterized by all of the people of hadith as being similar to a rat, a rodent. Because rodents, when they build a burrow under the ground, they build the nafaq under the ground. They build two entrances - one that they use all the time, the other they never use it. They never show it to you. They never show you their real face. They never show you where they will emerge from until they are pressured or the time is right to use it. And therefore the Arab, they began to describe the munafiq as being rodent-like, sneaky-like in that sense.
Nifaq is of two types. One nifaq - all of us have it at one point or another. And may Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى remove nifaq from our hearts. May we be from those who are purged from hypocrisy. And don't think it strange that I accused myself and implicitly many of you of what is similar to nifaq, only on account of what we know from the sahaba.
The Story of Hanzalah
There was a sahabi, his name is Hanzalah رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ . And Hanzalah, he was sitting with the prophet صلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ. And after he left a few minutes later in his home with his family, with his children - who we love like I just told you we must love them and invest in them and care for them - he's with his family. He ran back crying to the prophet صلّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ . And he said: "Hanzalah is a munafiq."
Abu Bakr رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ stopped him as he's entering upon the prophet. He said: "What's wrong with you, old man?" He said: "I'm a hypocrite." And Abu Bakr رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ says: "I know nothing except good about you. You're there for salah. You're there to be always in that which is good. Why would you accuse yourself of hypocrisy?"
And he said: "Oh Abu Bakr, whenever we sit with the Prophet صلّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ it's as if we feel that we can see jannah. It's like I can see paradise. I know what I need to do. I know everything that's right in life. What I should do and what should I stay away from. I know right from wrong. And I'm with him صلى الله عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ . But when I go home and I play with my children and I sit with my wife and I enjoy a little bit of food, all of that is out of my mind. I forget it, I forget it."
So Abu Bakr رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ began to cry. He said: "I'm a hypocrite just like you. If this is hypocrisy, we're both in trouble." And they enter upon the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ crying and weeping. And he says: "What's wrong with you?" And they retell the story. And he says صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ : "You're not. Rather, it is ساعة وساعة - an hour and an hour. An hour with your family and time and enjoyment. An hour with your wife and your children. And an hour that you must dedicate solely to Allah."
The Prophet's Character
The Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ his defining characteristic - when they ask Aisha رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهَا : "What did the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ do for a living?" Basically that's what they're saying. "What did the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ do most of his time?" Aisha رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهَا - you know the Prophet صَلَّى الله عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ what did he do? You know because sometimes when you hear speeches in short bursts, you don't study the seerah, you don't study the deen, it's almost as if you feel: "You know, he got hijrah, Badr, Uhud, Khandaq, masha'Allah, Jannah." It's like a movie.
What did the Prophet صلّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ do most of the time? Aisha رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهَا she says one sentence. She didn't say he prayed all day, he made dhikr all day. She said:
كَانَ فِي مِهْنَةِ أَهْلِهِ
Sahih al-Bukhari Hadith 676
"His duty was to serve his family" صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ . That defines a man.
See, it's not something to be embarrassed about that your first call, your first thought is my wife and my children, my father and my mother before myself and before others, before my job, before my career. ساعة - that must occupy a part of your time. That's a part of your duty. That's half of your life. And therefore marriage is half of your deen. It is half of your religion in your worship of Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى
ساعة - it's an hour that you spend. But there's this other half - وساعة - an hour that you dedicate to Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى . And this is what I want to talk to you about.
The Example of Sufyan al-Thawri
An imam - and you know sometimes we use these terms but we don't know who these people are - an imam, he's one of the tabi'een. He lived with the sahaba, but he reached a level of knowledge and
wisdom that he became a person some sahaba could learn from and would turn to to ask questions. He was from the eight people who were known in that lifetime, in that generation, who were affirmed by our ummah as being عَابِدٌ زَاهِدٌ - a worshipper of Allah, a knowledgeable man of Allah. Him, al-Hassan al-Basri and others.
This man, Sufyan al-Thawri, he said about himself:
"I made jihad against myself. I struggled against myself 20 years that I can stand before Allah in prayer at night. And not once in those 20 years I enjoyed it."
But what did he do? For 20 years, he fought himself. He struggled. He pushed himself. Al-imam al-Shafi'i, he would come to his bed and he would touch it in the middle of the night because it was soft, and he would make dua against it. He would say: "May God destroy you. You're so soft tonight."
This is imam al-Shafi'i. Islam, worship, service to God does not come naturally. It comes as an order from Allah to our Nabi Muhammad : صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ
Quranic Ayah on Night Prayer
"Stand up in the night except but few hours. Half of it."
You have to push hard. You gotta be like Ali رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ who doesn't like fasting in the heat, who doesn't wanna be thirsty in the summer months in Mecca, in Medina. But he enjoys it.
After 20 years of being forced, of fighting myself, I began to enjoy it, he says. And then he said: "But I left it for 4 months in my life, in my lifetime. 4 months I didn't pray to Allah. And I know what sin kept me from it. I know what I did between me and Allah that caused Allah not to make my heart and my body awake when others are asleep."
If he says that about tahajjud, what sins are we doing to keep us asleep during fajr? La ilaha illallah.
Doesn't it annoy you sometimes? Wallahi it annoys me sometimes. You know how you have that one neighbour who wakes up to walk his dog at fajr? And he's like all bright and he's just like: "Man, I'm waking up to pray to Allah - to Allah - and I know two will do it just to wake up. And this guy is walking a dog whose poo he's got to pick up." Allahu akbar.
أَيْنَ السَّعَادَةُ - Where is that, you know, success that we have between us and Allah? Where is that connection, you know, that we have with Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى ? Where are those secretive deeds that you
do that only Allah knows?
Public vs Private Deeds
You know, a lot of people they say: "Are you allowed to let other people know the good that you do?" Yes, you know I'm speaking to you. This is a good deed. May Allah put all of you in my scales on the day of judgment insha'Allah. I'm going to say that one there. Yes, all of you know I'm saying these words. No problem.
But the imams they would teach that for every good public deed you do, you have to anchor it with privacy - private deeds. And that's why the private deeds of the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَم by far exceeded his public deeds صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ
The private deeds of our Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - his prayer and his dua and his worship of Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى that is between him and Allah - was greater than that which is known and practiced in measure with us. That's why you can't attain the level he attained صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْيِهِ وَسَلَّمَ
So success is that which you put as a pursuit of true happiness. And true happiness is not attained through the material.
The Meaning of Zuhd
Ali رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ he said about zuhd - to abstinence, you know, to push back this worldly life, to push back the allure of the dunya - زُهْد is not that you don't buy nice things. It's not that you don't have a nice car and have a nice home. زُهْد is not that you don't own things in the dunya. زهد is that the worldly life doesn't own you.
Want you to think about that. It's a deep word, ya akhi. If you can fill this whole room with halal earnings and masha'Allah, you can live luxurious. Bismillah, earn it from halal, spend in halal, give your zakah. Alhamdulillah, do what you can. But don't let your life's focus be so narrow that the dunya has taken control of every decision that you make. The calculations you make are only from a worldly sphere and you forget the next sphere.
And that's why some of the most costly acts of worship are the ones that earn you the greatest reward and bring back the greatest rizq.
The Example of Hajj
I went to hajj this year alhamdulillah. And it was a beautiful, beautiful trip masha'Allah. May Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى return us many more times. It was a difficult hajj this year. May Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى have mercy upon those who have passed away, Allahumma ameen.
It was difficult - not because there were many numbers of people or the weather was hot or it was disorganized, no. It was difficult because there's so many other priorities in life. You know, you have a job, you have commitments, you have to pay rent or a mortgage. There's so many commitments in life for me and you and others. And it's difficult to make that decision.
And one thing that I will say to you, my dear brothers and sisters here today: The younger you are, the better. You know, I had a group with me. I was helping lead a group. And the problem you have is that some people are old, but they don't think they're old. But because I know they're old, which they don't want to admit to themselves, and because I know what's still coming ahead. See, they've only: "Oh, I've done a tawaf, this is alright, I can do it." There's six more. And then there's running, you know, sa'i, Safa and Marwa. And then there's more.
So you say to a brother: "Akhi, I think I need to get you a wheelchair." "Me? I'm not old yet, akhi." I said: "Don't worry about it, brother. If you don't get a wheelchair, you will be old. You need it."
So if you're young, if you're a young family, and if the, you know, the shaytan is messing with you sometimes - you have a little bit of savings, shaytan comes: "No, no, no, this is the house deposit." Because it happens. And see, the wujub of hajj, the wujub of success is that when it's there, you go. When it's there, you go. Bismillah.
The Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) promised, he says:
(Sunan Ibn Majah Hadith 2750)
"Nothing increases your rizq, nothing increases your prosperity more than a hajj. After a hajj - like don't just go once, but go again." Allahu Akbar (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ)
A hajj increases your rizq. Puts effort, spend on yourself, go. "Oh no, I haven't secured myself yet." Secure yourself through the ibadah of Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى)
Conclusion
It is a key to success to change that paradigm, you know, in your mind that you begin to think about the akhira instead of the dunya.
Closing Dua
"
"Our Lord, give us in this world [that which is] good and in the Hereafter [that which is] good and protect us from the punishment of the Fire."
"
"
"
"
"