Struggling Against Materialism - Formatted Khutba
By Yasmin Mogahed | 2026-01-10T03:25:55.303291+00:00 | Topic: Iman
Struggling Against Materialism
By: Yasmin Mogahed
Opening
I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan. In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Peace be upon the Messenger of Allah and upon his family and companions.
Whoever Allah guides is not misguided, and whoever is misguided is not guided. And 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.
I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan. And ease for me my affair, and relieve me from my tongue, so that I may understand what I say.
The Reality of This World
Allah says in the Quran after I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan:
"Know that the life of this world is but an amusement and adornment..."
So Allah is not telling us to think it. He's not telling us to, you know, kind of, you know, know it, but know it. So He is telling us in a very emphatic way a fact. So that's why He's saying, know it as a fact. Know that the life of this world is but an amusement and adornment.
The Stages of Life and Their Attractions
So when you look at this ayah, it's actually so amazing the order in which Allah lists the descriptions of this life. I listened to a lecture a few years ago, and it was one of those really major turning points for me. It was kind of an aha moment.
And it was a lecture by Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan, which he talked about this ayah. And what he went on to explain is the order in which Allah uses in this description of the life of this world.
Stage 1: Play (لعب)
He begins by saying that the life of this world is (لَعِبٌ - la'ib), is play.
Now when you reflect on the lifetime of a human being, at every stage of our life, dunya means something different. So dunya for a child is something. Dunya for an adolescent is something else. Dunya for a teenager is something else. The focus of what makes up my dunya, the focus of what my life revolves around, it evolves as we grow. What's important to me changes as we grow.
When you're first born and when you're at the beginning entering into this life, what is your dunya about? Play. Your dunya is about play. A child, the whole world, all that really matters to a child is playing.
If you want to get a gift for a child, you give them the nicest suit, as the Ustadh said, and they couldn't care less. You could have spent a thousand dollars, if they even make that, I'm sure they do, some disposable income, a suit for a two-year-old that costs a thousand dollars, is that child going to care? No. Because all that a child cares about is toys.
If you want to make the child happy, get them a toy, even if it's 99 cents. Because all that matters at that point, dunya, is all about play.
Stage 2: Entertainment (لهو)
And then as the child grows up, now we're talking maybe more middle school age, now the ayah goes on and says (لَهْوٌ - lahw) is entertainment, basically.
When you get a little bit older, it isn't just about playing with toys, but now it's entertain me. You know, the most common phrase you hear from a middle schooler is, I'm bored. Right? It's like, entertain me, constantly entertain me. I can't not be stimulated for two seconds. I need to constantly be stimulated. Entertain me.
And this is the world we live in, unfortunately. We don't always grow out of it.
Stage 3: Adornment (زينة)
Then we get older, and now we're in high school. Now, what's the most important thing in high school? Well, this is the age where you start to take two hours to get ready in the morning. And, you know, it's like, if there's a reflection, you have to check how's your hair, and or hijab, or whatever. Allah next, third in the list is (زِينَة - zeena).
(زِينَة - zeena) is decoration, adornment, looking nice, things looking nice externally. Then when you're at that stage, you know, kind of the high school teenage, what's your dunya about? What you look like, what
that other person looks like. And, you know, status symbols are very important, but here it's about what you're wearing and how you look.
And this is your dunya.
Stage 4: Boasting (تفاخر)
And then you get a little bit older and you graduate. Now, you start to apply for schools, start to apply to different colleges and programs. And now your focus is a little bit different. Once, you know, you get into college, it's not as important what you're wearing anymore. But now something else is more important.
(وَتَفَاخُرٌ بَيْنَكُمْ - wa tafakhur baynakum) Now it's all about boasting. (تَفَاخُرٌ بَيْنَكُمْ - tafakhur baynakum) means boasting between one another. You know, it's all about what program did I get into? What university did that person get accepted to? Now it's really about showing off.
It's no longer about playing with the toys. It's no longer about, you know, the entertainment as much. It's no longer about what I'm wearing as much. Now it's about boasting. Now you're trying to prove yourself to the rest of the world. That I am doing this and I am in this program and I have this degree.
So you're trying to prove yourself at that point. And there's so much competition. There's so much competition at that point to prove yourself and to boast of your accomplishments.
Stage 5: Competition in Wealth and Children (تكاثر)
(وَتَكَاثُرٌ فِي الْأَمْوَالِ وَالْأَوْلَادِ - wa takathur fil-amwali wal-awlad) Then, you know, you settle down. You get married. And now you have kids. Now what's the dunya about? Well, it's no longer relevant what toys you played with when you were a child. Or, you know, the movie theaters and the, you know, the entertainment. Or what you wore in high school. Or necessarily what program you went to or what degree you got in college. Now it's about competing in wealth and children.
Now it's about what did my child do compared to what did your child do. What university is your child in versus what university is my child in. And how much money am I spending on my child's wedding compared to how much you are spending on your child's wedding.
And it's this competition now in wealth and children. Now it's about what your house looks like as compared to what someone else's house looks like. And what kind of car you're driving.
So that becomes your dunya.
The Parable of the Garden
After telling us that this is all kind of, we're all at a different stage in this timeline. We sort of fit somewhere in there. Allah is telling us after all of that, He gives us a parable. He says know that the life of this world is these things in this order. And then Allah gives us a parable.
You know you have a good teacher if your teacher can explain concepts using a parable that you can relate to. Allah is the best teacher and the best (مُرَبِّي - murabbi), the best one to raise us. So here Allah makes a parable, it is like a garden.
The farmer becomes very pleased with it. These things that we listed, our toys and our entertainment and our competition and our boasting. It's beautiful for a moment.
It's like the example of a flower. When you take a flower and you look at a flower when it's in full bloom, you can almost call it perfect. But there is a sign in the flower because Allah, one of the signs of Allah is what happens to the flower over time.
And it doesn't take long for it to happen. What happens to a flower that you're very pleased with for a moment, someone gives you a flower, you're very pleased for a moment. But what happens over time? It makes the farmer really happy for a moment, but then it starts to wilt, it starts to crumble, it starts to turn yellow.
This is the natural life cycle. It starts to turn yellow. And then after that, it just becomes like, you know, if you take that flower, the flower that used to be perfect, and after it dries up and turns yellow, it can become (حُطَامًا - hutama), which is just debris.
You can take it and you can crumble it in your hand. Allah has made a parable. We have to pay attention.
Allah is saying that the life of this world is like that. That it is all these things that we run after, different stages of our life. But at the end, what happens? Just like that flower, just like that garden, it blooms, but then it becomes yellow and then it crumbles away.
And at the end, what happens? After that crumbling away happens, all that's left is one of two things. The severe punishment of Allah, or the (مَغْفِرَةٌ مِّنَ اللَّهِ وَرِضْوَان - maghfira min Allah wa ridwan) - forgiveness from Allah and His pleasure.
Understanding Mataa (مَتَاعُ الْغُرُورِ)
"And what is the life of this world except (مَتَاعُ الْغُرُورِ - mataa al-ghurur), the deceptive pleasure?"
I want to take a moment and look at this word (مَتَاعٌ - mataa) because I also found it very fascinating. When you look at the root of this word, Allah describes this life as a (مَتَاعٌ - mataa). It is a (مَتَاعٌ - mataa) and it is deceptive. (مَتَاعُ الْغُرُورِ - Mataa of deception).
But what is a (مَتَاعٌ - mataa)? Well, (مَتَاعٌ - mataa) normally is translated as something, pleasure. But if you go to the root of the word (مَتَاعٌ - mataa) this is the word I found very fascinating. You find that it is essentially a resource or a tool.
And some of the teachers, they say that the old Arabs used to refer to something like a fork as a (مَتَاعٌ - mataa). It is something you use.
The Analogy of Tools
But let me ask you this question. If I were to give you a box full of tools, and I tell you that I am giving you this box full of tools so that you can build a house. How many people are going to open up that box, see the hammer, see the nails, see the screwdriver, and pick out the tool and fall in love with the hammer and forget what they are supposed to do with it?
You pick up a hammer and you just look at it and you are like, wow, look at the shape of that hammer. That is an awesome hammer. And you become so distracted by the shape of the hammer that you forget what the purpose of the hammer is.
And what we have done in this life is exactly that. Allah has given us a box of tools, (مَتَاعٌ - mataa). And the purpose of those tools is for us to build our home in Jannah. But what we do is we take out the hammer, we take out the nail, and we fall in love with the tool and we forget the purpose.
We fall in love with the money and we forget the purpose. We fall in love with the people in our life and we forget the purpose. We fall in love with status, we fall in love with wealth, we fall in love with all of, you know, power, and we forget that all of these things are just a tool. We have a destination.
The Car Analogy
This life is the vehicle. It's, again, like someone who gets in a car, here we are, you know, near D.C., And suppose you want to drive, and I'm from, well, I'm living right now in North Carolina. Suppose that, you know, I want to get back to North Carolina and I'm driving.
My destination is Raleigh. If I get in the car, the purpose of my getting in the car is what? To take me to Raleigh, to take me to North Carolina. But what happens if I get in the car, and I look around, and I'm like, wow, look at these leather seats. Wow, look at the steering wheel. This is an awesome car.
And I become so in love with the car, and so distracted by the color and material of the seats that I never even turn it on. What have I done? Have I missed the point? What's the point of the car? It's to take me somewhere. It's a means.
But so many of us, we have gotten into the car, and we have fallen in love with the seats, and fallen in love with the steering wheel, that we never even turn it on. And we aren't going anywhere. Dunya is like that car. We are sitting in it so distracted that we aren't moving anywhere, because we forgot that it's just a means.
Your money is a means, your job, your education, your relationships, but we get lost in those things. And so we don't actually move.
The True Meaning of Detachment (الزهد)
You know, there is a very powerful statement of Ali ibn Abi Talib, and it relates to this concept of dunya, because sometimes people, in discussing detachment, in discussing how and why not be attached to this life, they take one extreme in which, you know, that extreme of complete, you know, like a monk, right? Totally not being involved, not having anything of this life.
But this is not the detachment, (الزهد - az-zuhd), that we are taught by the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. And there is a very powerful statement of Ali ibn Abi Talib in which he says that الزهد is not that you do not own anything, but that nothing owns you.
So it's okay, as the ustadh said, to own money, but the problem is when the money owns you. It's okay to have these things and to be involved in these things, as the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said, that he gets married and he sleeps some, he prays some, he fasts some, he eats some.
But the heart of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was not attached to these things.
The Story of Abu Hanifa
And there is a very beautiful story of Abu Hanifa, رحمة الله عليه, that illustrates this. He was a man who owned property. And one time while he was teaching, some people came to him and told him that your ships have sunk, or some portion of your ships have sunk. So this is equivalent to basically someone finding out that they lost a lot of money in the stock market. They just lost a lot.
So Abu Hanifa رحمة الله عليه, he pauses for a moment while he's teaching, and then he says الحمد لله (alhamdulillah), and then he continues teaching. And then a little while later, they come back to him and they tell him, actually no, it wasn't your ships, we made a mistake, your ships are fine. So again he pauses, and he says الحمد لله, and then he continues teaching.
And when he's asked about that, he explains that when I was first told that my ships have sunk, I paused and I examined my heart, and I found it unmoved. So I said الحمد لله. And then again, when I was told that it was not my ships, I paused and I examined my heart, and I again found it unmoved.
And so I said الحمد لله. His الحمد لله wasn't about the gain or the loss. His الحمد لله was about the fact that his heart was not attached to the gain or the loss.
The Problem of False Attachments
This is our problem. It's not that we own or we don't own money. It isn't that we're involved or we're not involved. It isn't that we're in or we're not in relationships. It is that those things own us.
See there's two places that you can hold a gift. All of these are gifts of Allah. Allah gives us wealth, Allah gives us youth, Allah gives us health, Allah gives us intellect, Allah gives us family, and there are two
places you can hold any gift. You can hold it in the hand or you can hold it in the heart.
And our problem is when we take the gift and we hold it in our heart. There's nothing wrong with having the gift as long as it stays in your hand. So as long as the money is in your hand, as long as the status is in your hand, as long as the relationships with the creation are in your hand, then you're fine.
The problem is when they're in your heart. Because the only thing that's supposed to be in the heart is Allah.
And I'm going to clarify what that means because sometimes people get confused. They think, well wait, but we're supposed to love our families and it's okay to love these things. Yes, absolutely. But when I say what is in the heart, I'm not talking about love. I am talking about absolute dependency. I'm talking about absolute attachments. I'm talking essentially about worship.
Our problem is we take the gifts of Allah and we love them more than the giver. And this is a fact. We love the gift more than the giver. We love the money more than the giver. We love the spouse more than the giver. We love the children more than the giver.
When we do that, something very painful happens. Anything that you love, as you should only love Allah, becomes the cause of your greatest pain. And that's how you'll know.
The Currency of Different Orbits
When we look back at the story of Abu Hanifa, his heart was unmoved by the gain or loss of his wealth. But had his heart been attached to those ships, then finding out that they had sunk would have devastated him. This is the problem with having these types of false attachments and loving things as we should only love Allah.
They start to control us. If it's a person, then that person starts to control us. If they're pleased with us, if they praise us, then we're good. And if they are not, then we are not able to continue or we break. This is called the orbit of the creation. It's an orbit that has a currency.
Every orbit has a currency. You can revolve your life around the creation or you can revolve your life around the creator. And each has its own currency. And you'll notice that the currency of the orbit of the creation is praise and losing that is criticism. So that's why we start to covet these things because that's the currency.
But the amazing thing about this type of currency is it's like monopoly money. How many people have ever played Monopoly? Probably everyone at some point. Monopoly money feels really good to like be rich for a moment, right? I have a million dollars. I have like 50 houses.
You know, like you feel really good while you're playing the game that I have all this money and I have all this property. But what can you buy with Monopoly money? This is really the way that human praise is.
You know, it's like the people are happy with you.
Okay, what are you going to buy with that? The people are praising or the people are criticizing you. What have you really lost? If Allah is pleased with you, then what have you lost? And if all the people in the world are praising you and Allah is not pleased with you, then what have you gained?
Signs of Heart Attachment
How do you know when you're holding a gift in the heart instead of the hand? There are certain ways in which you can know. And I'm going to list just a couple things, indications of that.
One of them is just ask yourself, what do I think about all day? What occupies my mind most of the day? We're always thinking about something unless we're like comatose. We're always thinking about something. What do you think about all day? What do you think about while you're praying? We get distracted.
What's distracting you in your prayers? What's the first thing you think about when you wake up in the morning? And what's the last thing you think about before you sleep? What keeps you awake at night? What makes you cry? What are you most afraid of losing? What makes you most angry? And what causes you the most pain in your life?
When you examine these few things, you start to realize a lot of times the answer to all these questions is the same thing. Or it's related to the same thing. Oh, it's my job. Or it's my children. Or it's my spouse. Or it's what people think of me.
Now, what do these questions tell us about ourselves? These questions tell us what is really filling our hearts. Because so many of us say with our tongues that we love Allah and His Messenger most. But the truth is, when you love something, think about it.
When you love something, when you're in love, you are always thinking about what you love. You can't be in love with something and not think about it. It's impossible.
So when we say, I love Allah most, but we need a reminder on our phone to remind us to remember Him, there's a problem in my claim of love. Because Sara doesn't need to put a reminder in her phone to think about Ahmed if she loves him. We have to examine our claim of love of Allah.
The Warning from Allah
Allah warns us in the Quran. He says:
"Say, if your fathers, or your sons, or your spouses, or your business which you fear decline, or your dwellings which you rejoice in... If any of these things, and Allah lists a number of things, and note, every single one of them is halal. Every one of them is halal, and in fact, we're supposed to love these things. Our parents, our spouses, our children, our nice houses, our business.
If any of these things, Allah here tells us, He's telling the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم to tell us that if any of these things are more beloved to you than Allah and His Messenger, and striving in His cause, then just wait."
Now this is, to me, very scary. Because you know when your mom wants to threaten you. You did something wrong. And sometimes she'll be like, if you don't stop doing this, you're going to have this punishment. And it's specific. Can kind of handle that. But if she really wants to threaten you, she'll say, just wait and see. Just wait and see what happens.
Allah is telling us, and Allah is high above any analogy, just wait and see. If you love any of these things, which are all halal to love, more than Allah and His Messenger, and striving in His cause, then just wait and see.
Because the pain of that love will come in this life before the next life. I guarantee it. And it will be that very thing that you love as you should only love Allah, that will be the cause of your greatest pain.
The Solution: Seeing the Real Thing
The question then is, well, then what? I realize this now. Well, actually, what do I think about most has nothing to do with Allah and His Messenger and striving in His cause. It's my job. It's my money. It's my house. It's my car. It's my children. It's my spouse.
So now what? What do I do? What's the solution?
And I think that to talk about the solution, I'm going to give you an example. When you're a child, you know, a child watching TV and sees a commercial. And on the commercial, there's an advertisement for a toy Ferrari.
When a child sees that advertisement, that kid falls in love with that toy Ferrari. And every day asks his parents to buy him that Ferrari. If eventually he gets the car, he will not want to let it go. Try taking that car out of the hand of that child. It will not be pretty. It won't be easy.
But as that child grows up, now imagine that the child sees a real Ferrari. Now what happens to his love for the toy Ferrari? Now when you try to take that Ferrari away, it's much easier. Because he sees the real thing.
What is our problem? Why is it that we are so attached to this life? We are so attached to the toy car because we haven't seen the real car. That's the reason. We love this life so much and are not willing to
sacrifice even a little bit because we haven't seen the real car.
And we are so attached to the creation because we haven't really seen the creator. We have not measured or estimated Allah, His true measure or estimation. We don't really know Allah.
Because if we really knew who Allah was, if we really read His words and reflected on them, if we really talked to Allah every day like we talk to our friends and we talk to our spouses and our children, then there would be no competition.
When you are on your way to meet a king and you see the servant of the king, yes, you know, you say salam to the servant. But how much effort are you going to put into impressing the servant and seeking help from the servant and seeking praise from the servant and seeking love from the servant that you forget about the king.
You don't do that. Because you know who has the power and you know that you are on your way to meet the king. So you treat the servant respectfully but your focus is on the king.
We are all servants. We are all servants on our way to meet the same king. But we have to be able to see that.
Without seeing the real car, you won't let go of the toy.
The Superiority of the Hereafter
Allah when talking about the hereafter, He asks us a very important question:
"Do you prefer the life of this world when the hereafter is better and more lasting?"
See, there is dunya which is the lesser life. It is the toy car. It is that means, it is that vehicles, that box of tools. But there is a higher life and Allah is asking us, do you prefer this life when the hereafter is better and more lasting?
What is it about this life that hurts us? It's two things. One is it's never perfect. No matter what you do, you can never make it perfect. No matter how much money you have, no matter how much status, no matter how much power or beauty or wealth, you can never make it perfect.
And second, it doesn't last. No matter how much money you have and how much plastic surgery you pay for, you will never make it last forever. You cannot, no matter what you do, make the rose not wilt eventually. Your skin is always going to wrinkle no matter how much Botox you use. These are signs.
Allah is telling us that the hereafter, how do we prefer this life when the hereafter is better and more lasting? It is better in quality. It is perfect. And it is better in quantity. It lasts forever. It doesn't end.
We don't have to worry about getting old or wrinkled. We don't have to worry about the two things that people suffer from most in this life.
"There is no fear on them nor will they grieve."
What are the two things that we suffer from most? Anxiety and depression. Fear and sadness. And it is those two things Allah says when describing Jannah, there is no fear and there is no sadness. But yet, we're still holding on to the toy car.
When Allah describes the hereafter, He says (الْحَيَوَانُ - al-hayawan). It is not just (حياة - hayah). This life is (الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا - al-hayah ad-dunya). حَيَاةُ This life is the lesser life. حَيَوَانُ in Arabic, this word, it is not just life but an exaggerated form of life.
It is the real thing. Allah is telling us there is the lesser thing, dunya, that which is lower, and there is the real thing, that which is higher. And that's the hereafter.
We need to start focusing and seeing the real thing. And when we do that, it becomes easy to let go of the toy car. It will become easy now to give up the haram. It will become easier to hold on to Fajr on time, and Qiyam, and Quran, and living those things because we see the real thing. And we know our destination. We're not just sitting in the car and forget to turn it on.
Conclusion
Finally, Allah, I'm going to end with this because I think it's so comforting. Allah tells us:
"O mankind, you are ever painfully toiling towards your Lord, but you shall meet Him."
Closing
I say this and seek forgiveness from Allah for me and for you, indeed He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. Glory be to You, O Allah, and praise be to You. I bear witness that there is no god but You. I seek Your forgiveness and repent to You. And peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.