The Road Map of Death Planning Your Legacy of Life - Shaykh

The Road Map of Death: Planning Your Legacy of Life

Shaykh Dr. Yasir Qadhi

Opening

As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen wa salatu wa salamu ala Sayyidina Muhammadin wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma'in. Amma ba'd.

I appreciate the invitation. It's always a pleasure to come to East London Masjid. I apologize my voice is a little bit sore. Lots of traveling, lots of speaking, that is what happens.

Reflection on Junaid Jamshed's Legacy

Before I begin the prepared talk, I just like to mention and comment on a little bit about the sad tragedy that has taken place this week of the demise of Junaid Jamshed. May Allah accept his death as shahada and raise his ranks.

I was not a close friend of Junaid Jamshed, so don't take this as a light of a close friend, but for some reason the death really, it moved me, it shook me immensely. And it just got me to thinking, as every death should cause us to think, it got me to thinking about the very topic that I was scheduled to speak about here today, and that is leaving a legacy. Leaving a legacy.

Junaid Jamshed's Journey

This was a brother who went through phases in his life. For those of you who don't know, Junaid Jamshed was, at one point of his life, the most famous musical singer, the most famous musical artist of Pakistan of the late 80s, early 90s. He was literally a heartthrob. He was put on posters, and he had fans, tens of thousands, millions of fans. His albums and his CDs were the most important and the most wide-selling and spreading throughout that era. And if he had died in that phase, Allah would have known what his legacy would have been.

But AllahAzza wa Jal had other plans for him. And after exposure to Islam, of course he was born and raised a Muslim, but you know how it happens, after exposure to Islam, he repented from that lifestyle, and he completely turned away from the music industry. And he, for a while, lived in difficult circumstances because he realized that it is haram for him to even earn an income from his previous CDs.

Personal Connection

And that was his only source of income. Now he's at the middle of his life. He has no career and profession other than singing. When he turns his back on it, and he realizes that that money, in his opinion, and I also agree with this, was unethical. So he made the decision, subhanAllah, to stop receiving a penny from his royalties. And he lived a very difficult life for a while.

He did not know what he would do. And it was then that Allah opened up other doors for him. And of the doors that opened up was business. He was never a businessman. But now you have to earn. So he opened up a men's boutique, clothing boutique, where there were kurtas and very fashionable, very good quality. And his name brand became the most famous and the most prestigious. And frankly, I loved his, and I still love his kurtas. I actually have at least, I think at least seven, eight of them in my closet. I love his kurtas. They're very good quality. And his name brand became, so he earned money from that.

And then subhanAllah, Allahazza wa jal opened up the door for him to use his talent, and that is his voice for a cause that was beloved to him, and that is singing nasheeds. Praise in honor of Allah and praise in honor of the Messenger. And he achieved a bigger legacy, even in this dunya, by becoming one of the most famous nasheed artists of the world alive.

A Personal Anecdote

And he dedicated his life to Islamic causes. And subhanAllah, one of the ironic stories that I mentioned, just as a personal anecdote, he was not a friend of mine. I only met him as an acquaintance at fundraisers and at other events, as we all participated, and you just happened to meet them.

And just as an anecdote to show you how qadrAllah, how Allahazza wa jal brings people together and different paths crisscross. When I was younger, when I was doing my education in the University of

Houston, when I was a chemical engineering major, so I was very much involved with the MSA. You guys will call it ISOC.

I was the main person of the MSA, the Muslim Student Association, and I was very, very active with the MSA. And one day in the summer of 1992, we heard that Junaid Jamshed is coming with his rock band to the campus that I study at. So he came to our campus, but not as a da'i, but as a rock band singer.

And we saw the groups of people coming, and the party folk, and the haram activities that are associated with those types of events. And this is America, it's a free country, and so you're going to have those types of people and those types of drinks coming, and you see the reality in front of you.

So those days, believe it or not, I was much more harsh and radical. I know it's difficult to believe I'm so calm and collect now, but in my younger years, I was a much more firebrand. The world was black and white, and I had a very strict vision of Islam, and I keep on saying that with knowledge and experience, you temper down. With knowledge and experience, you become more mature.

I don't regret that phase. I wouldn't be here were it not for that phase, but in hindsight, it's always 20/20. Clearly, I went overboard.

The Protest

And I did something that perhaps wasn't the wisest thing to do. I don't regret it, but at the same time, had I been alive now at that stage, I wouldn't have done it again. What did I do? So I called up all the MSA brothers. I said, khalas, we've got to do something. So what did we do? This is America. It's a free country. What did we do? We decided we're going to protest the event the way that American law allows, and that is to pass out pamphlets and flyers. You're allowed to do this. American constitution. I don't know how it works in England. And in America, you're allowed to protest anything as long as you do it in a peaceful manner. The constitution actually guarantees this, the peaceful right to protest.

So anybody can protest anything given certain dynamics. So we decided we're going to protest the event Islamically. And we went to the computer lab. I still remember as if it was yesterday, the old Macintosh. You remember those big boxes? I don't know if some of you have no clue what I'm talking about. But we typed up from whatever we had, the resources.

I typed up half a page of maw'idah, nasiha. This was pre-Medina. I'm still a college student. This is before going to Medina. Pre-Medina phase. I'm still hardcore at that phase.

And I typed up half a paragraph of, Fear Allah, O Muslims. Fear Allah. How can you come to this event? And this is haram going on. And the Muslim life is being shed in. Now this was 1992. The world was much more innocent.

Right now, I could mention five paragraphs of grievances. 1992, I could only mention Palestine and Kashmir. Simple world back then, wasn't it? These days, Palestine and Kashmir are now background. We have now Syria. We have this. We have now the whole world.

Back then, I could only mention those two. I said, there's Palestine and Kashmir going on. How can you spend money on haram? How can you be singing and dancing? Nightclub atmosphere. How can you do this? So we protested. The police were called, by the way. And the police told us to go a certain number of feet. According to their law, you have to be a certain amount of feet. So outside of that range, we were allowed to hand out our protest flyers and whatnot. So we did that.

1992. Some minor scenes caused, you know some Muslims saying, you fundamentalist fanatics, you this and that. We had some interesting anecdotes, I remember from my time at university.

Meeting Junaid Jamshed

Fast forward 15 years. So I've been to Medina, graduated. Now I'm doing my PhD at Yale. And you know the global peace and unity event goes on. The GPU event goes on. And that was the first time I actually met Junaid Jamshed.

Obviously, in Houston, he was inside singing. I was outside protesting. So in Houston, I didn't meet him. We were just inside, outside halls. So I meet him. This is in 2007, I believe.

007. You know the global peace and unity event that used to take place in London is the largest event of its type in the western world. 45,000 people come, or used to come. It's no longer happening now. And

so I knew Junaid Jamshed was going to be there. And so I took my dua book and I gifted him to Junaid Jamshed from Yasir Qadhi.

And I gifted him that book. So I met him behind the stage. We were both speaking one after the other. So he gave his nasheed, and then I gave my talk. And then we went back to the room. And then I introduced myself with this story.

I said, you know, 15 years ago, 15 years ago, you came with Vital Signs and your rock band to Houston. And I was actually protesting your event. And now, subhanAllah, look at how Allahazza wa jal brings people together.

Now you are my brother in Islam and faith who are speaking on the same stage to the same audience with the same complimentary message. Even though, 15 years ago, how it was, right? And I gifted him my dua book and what not. And subhanAllah, I'll never forget, he was so moved for whatever his memories and what not, where he was, where he is now, he was so moved that subhanAllah, he just hugged me tight. Right then and there, just as a surprise, wasn't expecting that, just hugged me tight. And I remember just seeing his emotion. Tears were welling up in his eyes.

And of course, I met him a few more times at fundraisers and what not. I was not his friend and what not, but when I heard of the news of the death, wallahi, it really, it shook me. Because subhanAllah, what a beautiful legacy he has left.

And we ask Allah to reward him even more and to raise his ranks even higher. What a beautiful legacy that he has left. And the fact of the matter is that this leads us straight into our talk.

Main Topic: Leaving a Legacy

Let me actually take my jacket off. It's very hot in here, mashaAllah. Your British weather, the weather predicted it will be freezing cold. I showed up yesterday, it was burning hot. Now today, so I don't know, London weather is something, one of the problems of living in London, but inshaAllah, may Allah reward you for that. So this leads me straight to my talk because it really is about leaving a legacy.

The talk today is to encourage me and you to leave a positive legacy. The first question that arises is, should we even leave a legacy? Do we have any precedence in this regard? Are we supposed to leave a legacy? Are we supposed to think long term? Are we supposed to be thinking, what will my children and grandchildren know about me? What will the world remember of me? And the response is very clear that yes, the Qur'an is explicit. You are supposed to be thinking in that way.

Quranic Evidence for Leaving a Legacy

Allahazza wa jal mentions in the Qur'an, the Prophet Ibrahim makes a du'a to Allah:

"Oh Allah, leave me a truthful mention among later generations." Now (لسان الصدق) has a number of interpretations, and one of them is leave that positive legacy in the later generations that they will know me as a righteous man.

And Ibrahim a.s. is universally the paragon of worship to Allah. No other human being is as universally venerated. Christians, Jews, Muslims, all three venerate the Prophet Ibrahim.

And this was something he made du'a for. That oh Allah, make my legacy a positive one. Make it a positive one, a truthful one amongst the later generation.

The Du'a of the Righteous

And the desire to become a role model, the desire to be a positive legacy in your own life is in the Qur'an. In the end of surah Furqan what is the du'a that they make to Allah:

"Oh my Lord, give me a righteous progeny. Make my wife and my children the comfort of my eyes. And make me an imam for the believers." What does he mean, make me an imam for the believers? This means you should aspire to become the imam of East London Masjid? That's a great position. But that's not what the ayah is talking about.

Make me an imam for the muttaqeen, make me a role model. By imam it doesn't mean the one who leads the salat. By imam here, the one who is a role model for the righteous.

Ibn Al-Qayyim's Commentary

You are supposed to establish your legacy in this world before the next. Ibn Al Qayyim comments on this verse and he said, there is a difference between legacy for fame, lust for power, and between legacy for Allah. He comments on this verse.

He says, there is a difference. When you make dua to Allah, O Allah, I want to be an imam for the muttaqeen. Ibn Al Qayyim says, there are two there are two, if you like, niyyahs that you can have.

One of them is positive, the other is negative. The negative niyyah, the niyyah that you're never supposed to have, make me famous. Make me beloved for the sake of my ego. Make the people know me as me. This is not what Allah is wanting us to do, obviously. Allah wants us to have ikhlas.

So then what is the interpretation when we ask Allah, O Allah, make me an imam for the muttaqeen. When Ibrahim says, O Allah, leave my memory to be a positive memory. What is the right niyyah? Ibn Al Qayyim says, that the right niyyah is, you want Allah to be exalted by your exemplary manners.

You want to become so righteous that others are inspired to be religious because of you. Not you become famous, but rather Allah is worshipped because of your impact on other people. You see, this is a fundamental difference.

When your niyyah is that Allah is worshipped, and you want to be raised up to a level so that Allah is venerated and worshipped, this is ikhlas. This is ikhlas. Don't you want to have a positive impact on your children, on your family, on your circle of friends? Don't you want that people, wherever you go, that people are influenced positively by you?

Examples from the Prophets

Do you know in the Quran, the prophets made this dua, Isa Alayhi Salaam, Yahya Alayhi Salaam. What dua did they make? Read Surah Maryam:

"This is in the Quran. Allah made me blessed wherever I am." Or Allah make me blessed, both are allowed. Allah made me and Allah make me blessed. Make me mubarak.

Ibn Abbas commented. What does it mean, make me mubarak, make me blessed? He said, wherever they go, they influence people through their knowledge. They benefited the people through their akhlaaq.

You want that every gathering you go to, when you leave, the people are better than when you came. Because that is your reward. That is your sadaqah jariah. That will cause your ranks to be raised up. You want that wherever you go, you are a positive influence. You don't want to be a negative influence.

You don't want to cause people to become worse. You should and you do want to cause a positive influence and therefore leaving a legacy is a part of ikhlaas to Allah. As long as it is done with Allah in mind.

Now, if you want fame and you want your own ego, then this is a major problem and you're opening up the door to your own destruction. Obviously. But with the right intention, leaving a legacy and being a positive influence is a part and parcel of being a Muslim.

Allah Records Our Actions and Legacy

And in fact Allah reminds us of this in the Qur'an:

"We shall resurrect the dead and we have written down what they sent forward and the legacy they have left behind."

Think about this ayah. Because when you go, when you go and all of us are gonna go and that's why these deaths like Junaid Jamshed and others, they should really cause us to pause. Because one time it will be me and one time it will be you.

Inevitably. Nobody has lived eternally. When you go and when I go, Allah says, I have written down two things. What are those two things? Number one, what they sent forward. Number two, what they left behind. Think about that.

What do you send forward? Your pure rituals. Your salah, your zakah. These are things that, okay, they're not with you anymore. You're gonna meet them in the akhirah. What do you leave behind? This is what we call in English, your legacy. What do you leave behind? It is your legacy.

Your legacy. What did you build? The children you raised. How demonstrative are they of your akhlaq and iman and taqwa? The people that you influenced and then realize it is a chain reaction.

It is a domino effect or you can call it a pyramid effect. You are knocking off some dominoes. How long it's gonna go and how far it's gonna go is something only Allah knows but you can set up the circumstances to meet bigger and longer.

Examples of Great Legacies

Look at the legacies of some of our ulama. Some of our scholars of Islam. You know people like Imam Al- Bukhari. I really just wonder, I'm amazed at the type of legacies that these great giants left behind. Imam Al-Bukhari lived only for 62 years, 63 years. Short life overall.

Just an average life span. And that's it. He went to the grave. 1200 years ago he's gone. But you cannot give an Islamic talk. You cannot give a khutbah. You cannot give a maw'idah, a khatirah, a wa'adh. Except that you mention something then you say Rawahul Bukhari. Bukhari narrated it.

You try to quote any hadith and you're gonna end up for sure quoting some hadith of Bukhari. Bukhari's long gone but to this day his hasanat are being written down. His legacy is to the day of judgment.

What an amazing, amazing... who remembers the kings and the muluk at the time of Bukhari? Who remembers the rich people at the time of Bukhari? Who remembers the movers and shakers and the political scene at the time of Bukhari? I swear by Allah I'm positive hardly anybody here even knows the name of the khalifah at the time of Bukhari. Even though when Bukhari lived and died who was the big shot? Think about it. Bukhari is a scholar, right?

The politicians are ones on the media. The politicians in the front of your magazines and journals. The stars, the movie people. These are everywhere. Bukhari is living his life kind of sort of away from the public scene. He's writing, reading, researching but where are the muluk and the kings? Where are the politicians and the rock stars of their time? And they had their equivalents of rock stars. Where are they now? You don't even know their names.

And Bukhari rahimahullahu ta'ala and all of the ulama all of them. Ibn Taymiyyah, Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, Abu Hanifa, al-Shafi'i, al-Nawawi, al-Ghazali. These are great giants.

They lived one lifetimes but their barakah their blessedness is quite literally the equivalent of hundreds of millions of lifetimes. Hundreds of millions. Every Muslim that is even somewhat knowledgeable knows the names of Ibn Taymiyyah, Ghazali and so and so and so and so.

This is what the real legacy is.

How to Leave a Legacy

So the question arises brothers and sisters. What should we do to leave a legacy? How do we go about leaving a legacy? Some simple points inshallah ta'ala and then inshallah after the break we'll come back and take some questions as well.

1. Acquire Knowledge

Some simple points. How

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We should start making dua Oh Allah bless me and make me blessed wherever I go. This is the dua of Yahya and Isa:

Make me blessed wherever I go. Wherever I go I want to influence people positively for your sake Oh Allah. Make dua to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala.

3. Aim High and Act

Number three. We need to start aiming high and acting. Aim high and act. Look at the earliest revelations of the Quran. The Quran never preaches laziness. In order to do anything you need to be proactive. You want to get good grades on your GCSEs or on your exams or whatever. You're going to have to study hard. Nobody can get to the result without putting in the effort. So what does Allah say? The earliest revelation when Allah Azawajal appointed the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم as a Nabi and a Rasool. What did he say?

"Oh you who's enveloped in your cloak." Every one of us feels so good when we put our envelope of that blanket on at night, right? It feels comfortable. You feel so nice and peaceful. And Allah tells our Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم "Oh one who's wrapped up and feeling all safe and sound. You can't remain in that posture. You cannot remain in the safety of your blanket. قُمْ Stand up! فَأَنذِرْ Go and do something. You have to stand up and get the deed done." Look at what Allah says in the Qur'an to us. Look at the verbs Allah uses. Allah says in the Qur'an:

"Flee to Allah." Allah says in the Qur'an:

Race to get to Allah'smaghfirah. Allah says in the Qur'an:

Win the race against others for the deeds of good. Look fleeing, running, walking quickly, getting to Allah winning the race. Wallahi brothers and sisters most of us we have a stronger desire for winning the race of the dunya than winning the race of the akhirah this is our problem when you don't even have the desire when you don't even have the himmah to do something how are you gonna get it done. So the Qur'an is a proactive book, it's telling you to become active it's telling you to do things and Allah reminds us:

"Go ahead and do actions see what you have done and the Prophet on the day of Judgement will see what you have done." So doing and in order to do you need to have motivation or a part and parcel of a living high legacy.

The Truest Names - Hadith

Look at this beautiful hadith of the Prophet in which he said the two truest names that any person can be called are Al-Harith and Al-Hammam. These are the truest names these are the most accurate names. Al- Harith and Al-Hammam. What is Hammam? Not Hammam, that's the bathroom guys not Hammam, no nobody should be called Hammam. Hammam what does Hammam mean? Hammam, the one who has high desires and aims this is Hammam he has high goals every one of us should have high goals especially for the Akhirah. And Harith, what does Harith mean? The one who reaps what he sows the one who gets back what he invested. Harith is like the planter, the farmer whatever seeds you plant you will get the same fruit back you planted apple seeds, don't be surprised when you get apples back you planted corrupt seeds don't be surprised you get corrupt seeds back. So Hammam the one who, Harith sorry, the one who gets what he what he planted and Hammam, the one who plants high the one who aims high so Hammam is the one who plants the best Harith, the one who reaps the best and the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said these two are the truest names.

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We have in English the saying you reap what you sow this is what this Hadith means the better you sow, the better seeds the better effort you put in, the better your fruits are going to be so this too is of the ways that we leave a legacy of the ways that we leave a positive legacy is that we look at the impact that we can have given the talents that we have.

4. Recognize Your Unique Talents

People have different talents and people have different areas of influence and the wise person takes into account that each one of us can only be good in one or two fields it's very rare that a professional doctor is also a professional engineer it's almost impossible to find and there are exceptions that prove the rule. Allah has blessed you in a way He has not blessed me and Allah has blessed me in a way He has not blessed you you look at what are my talents and you see what can I do for the religion of Allah to leave a positive legacy. Look at the Sahaba look at how varied they were. I'm doing now a series on the Sahaba in my Masjid, you know I've done a series on the Seerah now I'm doing a series on the Sahaba and one of the goals is to demonstrate the variety of talents the Sahaba had. Right now I just finished Khalid Ibn Al-Waleed RadhiAllahu An we went over all of his life and times, Khalid Ibn Al-Waleed do you know Khalid Ibn Al-Waleed was not known for giving Fatwa he was not known for narrating Hadith, he barely has a handful and these Hadith are generally very, they're just, they're found in other traditions as well by other Sahaba as well, he was not known for his knowledge of Tafseer, but let me ask you did we need Khalid Ibn Al-Waleed for Fiqh and Tafseer? Khalid Ibn Al-Waleed had a role to play did he not play that role? Abu Hurairah RadhiAllahu An, he had another role to play, that was not the role of Khalid that was not the role of Khalid Ibn Al-Waleed. Muadh Ibn Jabal, who was the Alim of the Sahaba he had yet another role to play. Ibn Abbas, each one of them somebody like Hassan Ibn Thabit very interesting Sahabi RadhiAllahu An who was not known for participating in any of the battles because he was not predisposed to fight, you know some people they simply are not capable of getting involved in physical fights and that was Hassan Ibn Thabit RadhiAllahu An. He was not able to fight so much so that when the treaty, when the trench took place when the Ahzab came, Hassan Ibn Thabit was essentially the only man that was placed with the women and children because he could not carry a sword, he had it in his fitrah, people are different some people are good in this, not good in that, Hassan Ibn Thabit was not a fighter he couldn't hold a bow and an arrow or a sword and read, and I'll mention his story in detail when I get to it, read what happened and read his, and that's his character but despite that did he say, oh simply because I cannot be involved in Ahzab, I'm useless. What Hassan Ibn Thabit did even Abu Bakr and Umar could not do do you understand what I'm saying here, what did Hassan Ibn Thabit do? Do you all know by the way, what was Hassan Ibn Thabit's role? He was the official poet of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam the official poet and when the Quraish would write bad lines about Islam and the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam would say to Hassan "Qum Ya Hassan" and respond back to them and Jibreel will help you. Hassan said, oh messenger of Allah I need, I don't know the Hassan was Ansari, Hassan was from Medina, he says I don't know the facts that I need to write these in the lines, right you need to know what happened, you need to be able to mention something, I don't know that information, so the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said Abu Bakr go and help him, Abu Bakr becomes the helper to Hassan even Abu Bakr As-Siddiq could not write the poetry of Hassan, but did we need Hassan to be an Abu Bakr? No, we have our Abu Bakrs, we needed Hassan to be Hassan.

The Point About Individual Talents

What is the point of all of this brothers and sisters, each one of you, each one of you has talents, has a strength that you know about, do not judge your weaknesses in the light of strengths of others, that's ludicrous, don't judge yourself based on your weaknesses and say oh, I can't memorize a thousand Hadith, I can't become a Faqih, I can't ok maybe, maybe you can't, maybe you can't, I'm saying first verify because sometimes you're lazy, suppose you can't, ok the Ummah doesn't just need Ulama, the Ummah needs

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people involved in each and every field, and the least that you can do, which will be a unique legacy for you, is to influence and impact your circle of family and friends. Nobody in the world walks in your shoes other than you nobody in the world has the same group of colleagues, acquaintances, neighbors and friends and family that you do, if you can leave a positive legacy amongst them you have done something unique that nobody else could do. So when you're talking about legacies and leaving a legacy, think have a program, have a model, have a like the businesses, have a business plan you have a legacy plan, what can I do, given my resources given my financial, my intellectual my, whatever I have bring it to the table and ask yourself and ask your close family and friends that where do you think my role is what is my strength that I can utilize and whatever your strength is and wallahi you must have a strength Allah created us this way Allah created us this way, that everybody has something that somebody does not have. No one has all knowledge and all power. Allah says in the Quran:

Allah says subhanallah the ending yes he is the one who has given some of you things that others don't have and so some of you are above others and each one will be tested in accordance with what they have this is the sunnatAllah. Allah'ssunnah in his creation no human being can live without others even the rich and powerful even the richest businessman he needs the car mechanic to repair his car he needs the the shoe cobbler to prepare to even prepare his shoe to make his shoe, even if he is not going to repair it he is going to throw it away, who made it somebody has to make it at that chain level everybody benefits from everybody this is sunnatAllah. No role is less trivial than the other it's your ikhlas that matters it's your ikhlas that matters no role is less trivial it doesn't have to be in the limelight it doesn't have to be behind the cameras or in front, no, everybody has a role to play and Allahazza wa jal is in fact monitoring that role.

5. Surround Yourself with High Achievers

And of the things I don't have to wrap up, it's almost time for the salah of the things that we can do to leave a positive legacy is to be around people that encourage us that are productive, that are proactive one of the biggest problems is to hang around people with low ideals with low vision that's why as the saying goes aim for the stars even if you fail, you'll get to the moon aim for the stars even if you fail, you'll get somewhere. If you're hanging around people that are always aiming high what's going to happen? You're going to be motivated you're going to be wanting to do something whereas if you're hanging around people who have no positive influence people who are just wasting their lives, what's going to happen to you?

Example of Ibn Abbas

Ibn Abbas radiallahu anhu and the famous sahabi Ibn Abbas when the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم died Ibn Abbas was 13-14 years old little kid Ibn Abbas used to play with one of his friends from the Ansar they would play, as we play soccer, sports they would have their games to play when the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم died, Ibn Abbas said to his friend come, me and you let's go and study ilm from the sahabi Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman let's go to the big guys and study and his friend snorted in contempt who do you think you are that people are going to benefit from you you're just a kid. What did Ibn Abbas do? Fataraktuhu, I let him go cut him off, fataraktuhu it's a negative influence, fataraktuhu and I started going to the houses of the sahabi, I would wait outside the house of Abu Hurairah, the house of Zaid the house of Abu Bakr, wait for hours until they came out, he didn't want to disturb them when they're sleeping, when they come out, I ask him mas'ala or mas'alatayn, one or two one or two questions, so as not to overwhelm you know, the shaykh or the teacher as well, until finally one by one, they began to pass away and what happened with Ibn Abbas he became the greatest alim of the sahabi. Now imagine if he had listened to his friend and said, who do you think you are and had done nothing you have to have positive influence around you.

6. Take Advantage of Your Youth

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6/25/25, 4:22 PM Quranic Verse and Hadith Verification - Claude

And of the things that you need to do and especially I speak to the younger members of the audience and by the way, young doesn't mean 15, young is something in the mind, so inshallah all of us are young, I'm still young inshallah as well in that sense but young in the Islamic shari'ah, essentially is below the age of 35 or so, you reach the pinnacle at the age of 40, that's what the scholars of the Arabic language say, 40 is when:

Arba'een sana is when you are at some type of a milestone in your life, so before that age and of course especially in your teens and twenties no doubt that is a young phase of your life make sure you take advantage of your time, and your energy, and your enthusiasm, the energy and time you have when you're in your twenties will never ever come back to you, this is sunnat Allahi fi khalqi again, the way that Allah azza wa jal creates us at that young age, and that is why you go to college and you go to uni at that age that's why standard, when do you train to become a career at that age, in your twenties, early twenties, well, along with that as well, have something of this dunya as well.

Personal Example from Sheikh Ja'far Idrees

One of my mentors and teachers, Sheikh Ja'far Idrees, great scholar he's very elderly now, may Allahazza wa jal give him a long life and cause him to die upon iman and taqwa, Sheikh Ja'far Idrees, one of the first things that he taught me, I remember this, this is 1990 1991, when I was still a student in university, and he never went through formal training, he has a PhD in philosophy from University of London and he is a well known alim but he said to himself, he told us this story, that when he started studying and he saw the quantity of books he had to read for his degree he made a condition upon himself, every book I'm going to read in my secular studies, I shall read an equivalent size in Islamic studies every book I'm going to read for the dunya I will read similar size for the akhirah and subhanAllah, slowly but surely his own knowledge, his erudition his classical understanding, made him one of the world famous ulama, he used to sit on panels with Sheikh Bin Baz, Sheikh Qardawi well known alim, now he is very sick and elderly in Riyadh, may Allah give him shifa but the point is, in his lifetime, that is exactly what he did. So, take advantage of that young age.

Story of Yahya Ibn Yahya Al-Laythi

Famous story comes to mind of Yahya Ibn Yahya Al-Laythi Imam Malik had hundreds of students, hundreds they would come from all over the world, do you know his most famous student, is a young teenager, who travelled from the other side of the world Andalusia, the west to go and study in Medina the more senior students are not as famous as this young kid and his version of the muwatta, is the most authentic version of the muwatta. One incident shows you, his relationship and his thirst for knowledge, once in Medina, a travelling circus went by, there were travelling circuses even at that time and that travelling circus had an elephant in it there were elephants that would travel the world and be shown to crowds at that time it's not just London Zoo and people began to raise their cries, there's an elephant, there's an elephant, everybody is rushing out of their houses, out of their places to see the elephant, and Imam Malik is giving his halaqa, when somebody shouts into the masjid, there's an elephant outside everybody, there are young men at the end of the day, everybody rushes up and leaves the halaqa leaves the halaqa, so Imam Malik postpones the class, go watch the elephant and he goes and looks at his notes, looking at his lecture, he looks up, there's one student remaining one student says, who are you? Yahya ibn Yahya, what are you doing? Don't you want to see the elephant? everybody else is gone, and this little 20 year old young man says oh Imam Malik there are plenty of elephants in the world there's only one Imam Malik this was the student that was to become the most famous, even though he studied with Imam Malik only for 2-3 years, then Imam Malik passed away but this level of dedication shows you what? This is what I'm talking about when you say set your standards very high.

Conclusion

So the bottom line brothers and sisters, inshallah I know it's time to wrap up the bottom line brothers and sisters, aim high aim high and even if you don't get all the way there, inshallah you will get close over there.

https://claude.ai/chat/abc7dce1-088a-4a76-99e0-696112b7aa89 9/14

6/25/25, 4:22 PM Quranic Verse and Hadith Verification - Claude

Our Prophet said in the famous hadith, whoever asks Allah for shahada, sincerely Allah will give him the rank of shahada, even if he dies on his bed (Sahih Muslim 1909). Whoever asks Allah for shahada, the point is you want to die a good life, and with this hadith we conclude inshallah. Our Prophet said, when you ask Allah for Jannah, ask him for Firdaus Al A'ala (Sahih al-Bukhari 2790, Sahih Muslim 2831). Now pause here do you think that everybody who asks for Firdaus will get to Firdaus? Do you think the majority of the Ummah will get to Firdaus? Tell me no, the majority of the Ummah is not going to get to Firdaus because Firdaus is is special correct? So the majority of the Ummah will not get to Firdaus it is for وَثُلْثٌ مِّنَ الْأَوَّلِينَ وَقَلِيلٌ مِّنَ الْآخِرِينَ )Quran 56:39-40), small groups of people, not everybody is going to get to Firdaus but, the command is, when you ask Allah ask for Firdaus, even though you need to understand, as well as I understand, the majority of those asking will not get to Firdaus. But here's the point brothers and sisters if you don't even aim for Firdaus, how are you going to get there? Number one, if you don't even aim for Firdaus, how are you going to get there? And number two if you aim for Firdaus and you try to get to Firdaus, and you quote on quote, failed what will that failure mean versus if you aimed just to struggle right into Jannah oh Allah, let me be the last person to enter Jannah, that's not the goal what if you missed that last person then what? So here's the point aim high, aim as high as you can, aim for Firdaus firstly, that's the only way you'll get there, secondly even if you don't get there even if you miss Firdaus, if you aim for it, you might just be one level below it and with that inshallah ta'ala, we conclude and ask Allahazza wa jal for Firdaus al-ala.

Q&A Session

pretty much agreed upon with some minor differences in some of the madahib but beyond the point of our class in salah the awrah is more than the navel and the knee the awrah also includes the chest so in salah you also have to cover the chest this is for men and for women the awrah in public is the entire body other than the face and the hands and the face is an issue of some ikhtilaf in the classical scholars but none of the scholars said none of the scholars said that the hair can be exposed the hair should be covered in a dignified manner along with the body in loose clothing.

With that having been said the shariah did not specify the cloth the cut the material and the color all of this is something that the shariah did not come and lay down upon so different islamic cultures have adopted different cloths and materials and that is why you see the diversity of the ummah the muslims of indonesia do not dress like the muslims of nigeria and the muslims of nigeria do not dress like the muslims of bangladesh and the muslims of bangladesh do not dress like the muslims of saudi arabia which one is more islamic? None of them they are all equal they are all equal.

Our prophet did not come and tell us that we should wear a long garment what we call a thawb he did not call it a thawb they would call it a kameez he did not say we should wear the kameez this is something that is open and therefore if a person wishes to dress in a manner that is in accordance with his or her cultural norms as long as the guidelines of the shariah are followed then there is no sin whatsoever in this regard and in fact ibn al qayyim makes a very very strong argument that the sunnah when it comes to dress is to follow your own people in as much as the shariah allows you to follow them to follow your own people in as much as the shariah allows you to follow them and he says this is the sunnah because what did the prophet used to wear? Did he change the fashion of Mecca? Did he alter what the other Quraysh used to wear? If you could magically be transported to the battle of Badr and you see the two camps on each side you could not tell them apart from their clothes you could not tell them apart from their thawb they're both wearing thawb, they're both wearing turban they're both having the way that the Arabs of that time used to dress.

I understand some people say that they want to dress like that and I'm not saying that that is wrong I just don't agree with it in a polite manner the ones who want to dress like this and they think that it is encouraged by Islam we should say, do you also wish to resurrect the cuisine of the prophet that nobody eats? It's gone that cuisine.

Do you wish to resurrect the housing material made out of dried mud that he used to live in? The sunnah of the prophet is of two types sunnah that he told us to follow sunnah that he told us to follow and the sunnah that just happened to be the norms of his time he spoke in a certain accent of Arabic he spoke in a certain dialect of Arabic he dressed in a certain manner he ate a certain cuisine he rode a certain animal he lived in a certain type of house those things are not cut and pasted later on and that is why wherever Islam went the cuisine of Najd or Hijaz did not spread the clothing did not spread either and that's why Muslims of Nigeria dress differently than Muslims of Indonesia the clothing did not spread what did spread was the theology, the beliefs, the rituals that is the real sunnah.

So my humble opinion in this regard with my utmost respect to other scholars is that it is not just permissible it is better for us in this context to design our own garments that have elements of east and west both in them so that there are some elements that make us stick aside as Muslims because in the end of the day in the end of the day we cannot wear tight clothes even men all too often men are wearing tight jeans and clothes when they're going to say that's not allowed we should have loose garments we should preferably have long tunics or shirts preferably it's not haram to tuck it in but if you tuck it in make sure your pants are baggy or loose because you cannot have so a blend of east and west so that we don't stick out like sore thumbs, why? It's psychological brothers and sisters when you resemble a people and you speak their language and you're a part of their culture and customs as much as possible then you come forth with a new religion they're going to be more open but when you are an alien and you're dressed like an alien and you look and talk and walk then your religion as well is an alien religion and that's why in the Quran Allah says:

"We sent messengers who spoke the language of their people." Allah says:

Their brother their own man came to them he looked like them, he spoke like them, he dressed like them, he acted like them as much as the sharia allowed then what the sharia says you cannot do you do not do, we don't go to the pubs like other people do, we cannot do that but to dress in a regular manner or what not there should be no problem with that and this is the position that I follow and that is why even what I'm wearing now is I think a blend of east and west this is the way that I do it but I have another life outside of this life I teach meaning I'm not just a cleric I teach at university I'm a professor at a university I dress properly in a suit or a pant or a formal jacket and I make it a point to dress up formally even when my colleagues are not dressed up why? Because I understand that to my non-Muslim students I am representative of the religion of Islam and I want to dress up and look dignified for the sake of Allah when our Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) would meet dignitaries and visitors from other tribes when non-Muslims would come hadith is in Sunan At-Tirmidhi (Tirmidhi 1769) when non-Muslims, when delegations would come the hadith says he would wear his Yemeni cloak his Yemeni jubba you know this is like a thing on top that you put, the Arabs call it the bisht the bisht is the remnants of the jubba something you put on top now, who told our Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) that a Yemeni jubba is an upgrade who told the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) that wearing a Yemeni garment is what you do when you're going out when you're wanting to look dignified he didn't invent that, this was the norm of Hijaz when you wanted to dress up you would wear the Yemeni jubba he followed the customs of the Hijaz no problem, now what is the equivalent of the Yemeni jubba in our times when non-Muslims come and speak with us when we are visiting dignitaries or dignitaries coming to us, should we go and resurrect the actual Yemeni jubba which nobody wears anymore, find actual wool from the sheep coarse garments I'm not trying to be sarcastic but I'm just being factual those people who think they're wearing the sunnah the fine material that your tailor-made thobes are made of, our Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) never touched it please, the nice cufflinks you put on, those nice little caps that you buy with the most precious material on, you think our Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) wore those types of things, so don't pick and choose what is convenient nobody resurrects the actual cloth and the actual cut which was hand-made and the actual, nobody does that and there is no hadith that commands us to actually wear a garment wallahi, if there was such a commandment we follow it, because it becomes Islamic but there's no authentic hadith that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) told us to dress in a certain manner, and therefore, inshallah, it is completely permissible to dress as you please, as long as the shari'ah requirements are met and the shari'ah requirements, I mentioned loose garments and the awrah be covered.

One other point, when it comes to clothing we have been prohibited from imitating that which is recognizable as kufr, that which is recognizable as something other than Islam, what is imitating that which is kufr or recognizable as other than Islam, in our case it would be, for example, wearing a cross or wearing what a priest wears, this would not be allowed, because you are recognizable now, wearing the clothes that are universal is not imitating the kuffar because the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) wore a thawb, and the kuffar of Mecca wore a thawb, and he said this hadith in the context of the kuffar of Mecca wearing the thawb he didn't imply, just because they're wearing a thawb, I cannot wear a thawb he is saying, if you're going to go out of your way to imitate, out of your way because it's tashabbah, to imitate specific kuffar or ideologies that are not a part of Islam, we cannot dress like Buddhist monks, we cannot recognizably something that is not something that Muslims wear you cannot do that, but to say that pant and shirt is imitating the kuffar I'm sorry, that's not accurate Islamically, and I'll just leave it at that.

Question about Helping Non-Religious Family

Question from the sisters: I have five minutes left because I have to make my way to believe it or not, Birmingham so I have to go far away so how should I help my family who don't focus on Islam and how would I help them to basically be more religious and leave some of the cultural things that they are doing. Answer: My dear sister in Islam, this question is a very common question, it is a question that all of us struggle with, subhanallah, one of the most difficult struggles of this world is the struggle within your family, this is one of the most difficult struggles, to struggle within your family and to bring about a better situation honestly sister I want to be frank with you realize that Hidayah comes from up above and not from you so Hidayah is not in your hands why do I say it like this maybe you do everything that's right and

it doesn't cause an impact, don't become depressed and blame yourself you have to do what Allah has required you to do and Allah is in charge of the result Allah says in the Qur'an about the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم)

"You do not guide the one whom you love, rather Allah guides the one that he chooses to guide." Our Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) could not guide Abu Talib and he wanted to guide Abu Talib so realize you might not be able to bring about a betterment of your family but number one number one it's clear from the question that your family are Muslim, Alhamdulillah Thumma Alhamdulillah a father who lowers his head in sujdah and also does some other sins is a million times better in fact infinitely better than somebody who never lowers his head to Allah (جل جلاله) the fact that your mother comes to Juma at least for example she prays Ramadan thank Allah (جل جلاله) that she's fasting Ramadan she's doing something and then along with that there might be some other sins so put it into context don't despair, look at the positives the fact that your siblings are Muslim and identifying as Muslim Alhamdulillah, if they have some sins major or minor, those are sins in light of their Iman in light of their positive, so look at their positive.

Number two sister, realize that psychologically speaking if you are the youngster in the family for example your parents are always the youngster usually, typically da'wa cannot be done by somebody who is psychologically of a lower status you are the daughter your parents have raised you since you were a toddler, they fed you, they've taken care of you since you were a baby now you become MashaAllah 15, 20, 25, they will always be a generation older than you so you come along and you think you know it better than them, psychologically they're going to say, who are you to preach to us keep this point in mind I'm not saying don't, I'm saying usually, da'wa from below is more difficult than da'wa at the peer level or da'wa at a higher level, sometimes the best da'wa can be through your uncles and aunties that are religious you go to them to influence your parents, not necessarily you directly, look at Ibrahim and his father Azar, his father Azar the one that was the idol maker he refused to accept anything from Ibrahim not that Ibrahim didn't do his job, he did his job, but no matter what you do, sometimes you're not going to so number two, realize that.

Number three, whatever you do, my dear sister and I speak to all the brothers here, you will never, ever, ever win the hearts of your parents through angry, emotional argumentation never the worst way to give da'wa to your parents is to throw what I call a teenage emotional tantrum a know-it-all attitude, where you say this is haram, this is bid'ah, this is and they're doing it for their entire lives that is the most ineffective way you will seal their hearts against any future da'wa, you will approach them through love infinitely better than you're approaching them through anger and hostility do not think that argumentation is the best way with your parents, it might work with your friends, it might work with people at your level, with your parents the best way is to lead by love and tenderness and example, and if you must intellectually debate, do so with the utmost adab and respect look at Ibrahim and his father Azar:

Never once is Ibrahim raising his voice never once is he throwing an emotional tantrum Ibrahim a.s. is addressing his father, my dear father, why would you want to worship that which will not benefit or harm you, my dear father Ar-Rahman exists but I'm worried Ar-Rahman might punish if you worship other than Ar-Rahman read that beautiful passage how Ibrahim debated with his father and then compare how most of us debate with our parents, look at the differences there, and then the final point inshallah make dua to Allah make dua to Allah you really want your parents and your siblings to be guided, realize love, mercy, tenderness, dua dua, dua, dua dua is the weapon of the believer, dua is what will bring about what you want, raise your hands up to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and constantly make dua, that oh Allah the one who guided my parents to Islam guide them to a better understanding of Islam, oh the one who guided my parents to worship him, make them worship him regularly, worship Allah regularly five times a day, if they're praying once a day for example, the one who makes them pray once a day, oh Allah, make them pray five times a day, dua to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala your own personal akhlaaq your love, your tenderness, your mercy this is the way inshallah to accomplish and in the end, hidayah is from Allah

alone, jazaakumullahu khairan, it's always a pleasure to come to your masjid I hope that inshallah we meet again soon jazaakumullahu khairan, assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.