IamY Convention 2012 Burn Out Phenomenon

Burn Out Phenomenon

Yasmin Mogahed - IamY Convention 2012

Opening and Introduction

Peace be upon you. Peace be upon you, too. I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan.

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah and upon his family and companions.

Whom Allah guides, none can misguide him, and whom He misguides, none can guide him.

I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, with no partner. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.

My Lord, explain to me what is in my heart, and make easy for me my affair, and remove the knot from my tongue, that they may understand what I say.

Reflection on Birthdays and Gratitude

Let's step outside of that for a moment and look at something else. Some time ago, I had a realization. As young people, and then not so young people, many spend their birthdays waiting for people to celebrate them.

As children, they can't wait to receive gifts and get heartbroken if someone forgets to tell them happy birthday. But about four or five years ago, something dawned on me. I realized that if there was anyone I should be celebrating on that day I was born, it really shouldn't be me.

What did I do after all? If there was anyone I should be celebrating on that day, it should be the one all those years ago, who sacrificed her body and even her own blood for me. I really should be celebrating my mother. I didn't work to be born, and it was her sweat, blood, and tears, not mine.

So while I don't need it to be March to do this, I do want to take a moment to remember, acknowledge, and thank my mother for the sacrifices that she made on that day and every day since. But then, I didn't come here to talk about birthdays, did I? I didn't come here to tell you that they're haram, or that you're mimicking the nonbelievers by celebrating them. I came here to discuss something greater.

The Problem with How We Teach Islam

In teaching Islam, I think there's a point where we went wrong. I think somewhere along the line, we turned Islam into a list of do's and don'ts, harams and halals. We teach our children about hellfire before they can even say ar-Rahman ar-Rahim, the most gracious, the most merciful.

Sunday school has become a place to teach you all the things that are haram and all the punishments that you'll be dealt if you do them. When someone converts, the very first thing we tell them is that now they need to change their name, and they can no longer celebrate Valentine's Day. Somewhere along the line, I think, we started going about Islam from the outside in instead of from the inside out.

The Prophetic Method: From the Inside Out

But we need to ask ourselves, how did the prophets do it? One of the companions relates that Aisha said, if the first thing to be revealed was, do not drink alcoholic drinks, people would have said, we will never leave alcoholic drinks. And if it were, do not commit illegal sexual intercourse, they would have said, we will never give up illegal sexual intercourse. She goes on to explain that the first verses to be revealed were about the Day of Judgment and about Allah.

Now what is our mother Aisha talking about here? She is diagnosing in her wisdom why we have so many Muslims today saying, we will never leave alcoholic drinks, we will never give up illegal sexual intercourse, we will never give up smoking hookah or pot or pornography, we will never give up dating and all the so-called pleasures associated with it. We refuse to give up these things because we have not yet understood the heart of Islam. For years, we've been bombarded with the self-righteous haram police, but never have we been exposed to the heart police.

The Hadith of the Heart

The Prophet (peace be upon him) taught us why we end up falling into this type of corruption, why we fall into these types of sins which we insist upon. There is a hadith which is probably familiar to a lot of you. And usually when we hear this hadith, we usually only hear the first part of it.

And that's the hadith where the Prophet (peace be upon him) says:

It begins by saying, truly what is lawful is evident and what is unlawful is evident and in between the two are doubtful matters which people do not know. He who guards against doubtful matters keeps his religion and honor blameless and he who indulges in doubtful matters indulges in fact in unlawful things.

And the hadith goes on. But we usually stop there. But the hadith doesn't stop there.

This hadith begins by talking about staying away from the haram and sticking to the halal. And that's usually where we stop. We are taught that certain things are forbidden and we're commanded by our teachers and by our parents to stay away from them.

But the hadith didn't end there. And yet we end there. We end it at stay away from haram and doubtful matters. Period. But the Prophet continues the hadith telling us how. He says:

(Bukhari 52, Muslim 1599)

Indeed, beware, no. Indeed, in the body, there is a lump of flesh. And if that lump of flesh is sound, the entire body will be sound. And if that lump of flesh is corrupted, the entire body will be corrupted and verily it is the heart.

The Heart is the Master

The heart is the master. You see, human beings are all about love. We obey what we love.

Whatever fills this lump of flesh called our hearts dictates how we act. And when it comes to love, we make a lot of claims. We claim to love a lot of things. But like the great poet said, love is like a lawsuit. It requires evidence. What is the evidence of love? What is the direct consequence of this powerful emotion? Think for a moment about human love.

What happens when someone is in love with another person? That person will desire nothing more than to please and be close to the one they love. And this service is not motivated by begrudging obligation, but rather by a deep inner drive born directly out of that love. Love speaks for itself.

When you love someone, you do what pleases them. And your greatest joy is in pleasing and serving the one you love. It is an honor to serve the one you love.

The Honor of Service vs. the Burden of Obligation

Imagine if you're in the presence of a famous person. Now, I know I'm not in Southern California, but imagine that you met Kobe on the street. How would you act? Most people, they'll go up to him and

they'll be like, can I get you something? Can I get you a cup of water? Can I tie your shoe? And then once they get to tie his shoe, they'll go home and tell everyone, I got to tie Kobe's shoe.

You may not care about Kobe, but I hope you understand the sentiment here. There is an honor in serving the one you love. There is tashrif.

And it's only once that love is gone or weakened, that serving that person goes from being an honor to just being a burden. It goes from tashrif to only taklif. Sadly, our worship of God is just like this.

Just a burden. We don't pray to seek refuge from the storm of our lives. If we pray at all, we do it to get it out of the way.

Or maybe because our parents won't stop nagging us unless we do. Somewhere, we've forgotten that if we don't pray, we harm no one. Not Allah, not our mothers, not our fathers.

We ultimately harm only our own selves. And there is nothing anyone can do for you on the day of judgment when you stand in front of Allah alone, except by the permission of Allah. On that day, a mother will be willing to throw her own child to save herself.

The Reality We Have Forsaken

Please understand the reality that we've forsaken because we're so caught up in our phones and our apps, our friends, our parties, and our highs. We're so caught up with the cute guys and the pretty girls. Please understand, ignoring a reality doesn't make it any less real.

It's still going to happen. Being unprepared for something doesn't stop it from happening. If you choose to stay up all night partying instead of studying for your final, it doesn't mean the final won't happen.

It still will, and you only end up failing. If we spend this life just partying, pretending that the final isn't coming, it won't stop it from happening. Nothing will stop death.

Nothing. Nothing will delay the day of judgment. And like that final, the question is only, are we prepared? Or are we too busy playing?

The Storm Analogy

Imagine for a moment that the news reports that a huge storm is about to come.

Imagine that we're told that unless we seek shelter, we and our families will be destroyed. What would you do? If we really believed that the storm was coming, we would run to shelter, right? Only a person who didn't believe the forecast would continue playing and ignoring the countless warnings. Only if you thought it was a lie.

Only if you didn't really believe. But how could someone know, really know, that a storm was about to hit and do absolutely nothing to protect themselves and those they loved? Would anyone say, I'm actually too busy hanging out right now? I'm too busy on my phone or on Facebook to run to shelter.

Actually, I'd rather check out this guy's profile than protect myself from this storm.

No one would say these things. And yet, every single time we put off our prayers, put off wearing hijab, put off giving up dating, put off leaving our poisonous bad company, put off abandoning alcohol or smoking or drugs, this is exactly what we're saying.

The Sign of Internal Problems

The fact that we cannot leave these haram things, the fact that we insist, I will never leave alcoholic drinks, I will never give up illegal sexual intercourse, I will never give up smoking hookah or pot or pornography, I will never give up dating and all the so-called pleasures associated with it, the fact that our worship has become only a burden is a sign that there's a problem internally.

There is a problem with our sight. We don't really see the storm coming. We don't really see the Day of Judgment.

We haven't purified and rectified the lump of flesh that the Prophet spoke about. And as a result, the rest of our bodies, the rest of our actions, the rest of our lives have become corrupted. We don't really see Allah with our hearts and we haven't built our love for Him.

We haven't really used our heart for the very purpose for which it was created, to know, to serve and to love God. Remember that the first verses revealed were not about halal and haram. They were not about dating or drinking or smoking or pot.

They were about the fact that as a matter of certainty, just as certain as I am standing in front of you today that you and I will meet our Maker. You and I will stand in front of Allah and we will be asked, what did you love most in this world? What did you spend your life doing? What did you run after? Will it last? The things that you chase, will they last? Will they help you or will they hurt you when the illusion of this life has passed?

The Mercy of Allah and the Call to Return

We need to come back to Allah before it's too late. And often what keeps people from returning to Allah is that they believe that their sins are too great for Him to forgive.

But to this Allah speaks:

Say, all my servants who have transgressed against themselves, do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the forgiving, the merciful.

And return in repentance to your Lord and submit to Him before the punishment comes upon you, then you will not be helped.

Final Call and Warning

Brothers and sisters, the storm is coming. Seek refuge in the only place refuge exists.

Seek refuge in Allah. I know I was born on March 10th, but you and I, we know what day we were born. But none of us know what day we will die.

And many of us think that when we get to that time, we can live our entire life however we want and then at the time of death, just say:

But at the time of death, the tongue cannot speak except what the heart commands. Whatever is in the heart will come out then. If we don't remember Allah during our life, how will we remember Him during our death? If our heart is full of love of this life, love of status, love of wealth, love of the creation over the creator, it is that which will speak.

If the heart was full of grudges, jealousy, hatred, that will speak. But if it was full of the love of Allah, that will speak. If in your heart, you carried only:

that truly there is no refuge, no shelter, no deity worthy of worship but Him, then and only then will the tongue be given permission to say it.

May Allah make us among them.