Dealing With Peer Pressure

Dealing With Peer Pressure - Yusha Evans

Opening

السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي أَرْسَلَ رَسُولَهُ بِالْهُدَى وَدِينِ الْحَقِّ لِيُظْهِرَهُ عَلَى الدِّينِ كُلِّهِ وَكَفَى بِاللَّهِ شَهِيدًا وَصَلَّى اللهُ وَسَلَّمَ وَبَارَكَ عَلَىٰ نَبِيِّنَا مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ أَجْمَعِينَ وَأَشْهَدُ أَن لَّا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ

Introduction: Understanding Peer Pressure

Discussion is peer pressure. But you see, peer pressure does not mean just for kids. Youth are very susceptible to peer pressure but realistically all of us are susceptible to peer pressure. Young and old alike.

We're susceptible to pressures that are around us that cause us to make decisions that we might not normally make when we're left alone to make that decision. And this is something that is part of the human psyche. This is the way the human being interacts with the world.

We have a tendency to be influenced by the people around us and that's part of the way we're developed. And it's spoken about so much in Islam about keeping good company and having good company and we'll get into that later but the real issue here is what is it that human beings, people are looking for when they do things so that people will like them? That's the real key matter here. Is that what is it that we are trying to accomplish by doing things that other people like for them to like us? What are we trying to get from those people? Anybody know? What do you want from them? If you do something that you know you shouldn't do because your friends want you to why are you doing it? So they'll like you, right? You're doing it so they'll like you or you're doing it so they'll respect you.

Or if you do something because your friends do it or you do something because it's something that your family does but it's something you know Allah is not pleased with you do it to fit in. You do it so they'll like you and you do it so that they will respect you. You do it to gain respect.

How many of you in this room would like to be respected? Raise your hand. You like to be respected. You like to have respect from people. There's not a single person in that likes to be disrespected. No one. We love respect.

The Concept of Izzah (Honor and Dignity)

Respect and honor which are synonymous terminologies. Respect and honor are called what in the Quran? Does anyone know? There's an Arabic word Allah uses, the Prophet ﷺ uses to determine respect and honor. Anybody know? It's called Izzah.

Izzah. Izzah is honor. Izzah is respect. Izzah is dignity. And the funny thing that we're going to learn tonight is that by giving in to peer pressure and doing what people want you to do even though you know Allah is not okay with it and you're seeking that honor but in reality you're seeking something from someone who doesn't own it. You're seeking to get something from someone that they don't have to give you.

Hadith: Seeking People's Pleasure vs Allah's Pleasure

And we have to learn that very clearly. The Prophet ﷺ and this is narrated by Aisha (radiAllahu anha) she said that he once told her:

Sunan Ibn Hibban (Sahih)

That whosoever, who? Any person who seeks the pleasure of people and this is narrated in Ibn Hibban and it is termed as sound. Whoever seeks the pleasure of people at the displeasure of Allah.

Meaning that what you do with your life is something that Allah is not pleased with. But you do it so that your friends will like you. You do it so that your co-workers will like you. You do it so that your family will accept you. Whatever it may be. The Prophet said somebody who lives their life like that:

Not only would Allah be displeased with them but He will make the people displeased with them.

He will make the people displeased with them. So in this scenario, the Prophet said seeking people to be pleased with you by doing something that Allah does not like. That not only will Allah become displeased with you and angry with you but He will make the people displeased with you.

He will make you humiliated. He will humiliate you. And it's a loss-loss. You lose. You seek something from someone by doing something for them and in return you get the opposite effect. Because this is the system of Allah.

You won't get something good as a Muslim striving to be a Muslim unless you get it by obedience to Allah. That's the only way good comes. It's the only way good comes.

Ayah: Allah is the Owner of All Honor

And Allah says this in the Quran in Surah Al-Fatir. Allah says:

That whosoever wants izzah, whoever wants to have honor, whoever wants dignity, whoever wants respect amongst people, that Allah alone is the owner of dignity. Allah alone is the owner of honor. Allah alone is the

owner of respect. And He gives it to whomever He wishes. And then the verse goes on to say, and whoever speaks good words and follows it by good deeds, those good words will be pushed up by those good deeds.

But whosoever plots evil, whoever plots evil, then their plans will come to nothing. Allah will punish them for their plots and their plots won't even be successful. So Allah tells us in the Quran that He owns respect.

He owns honor. He owns dignity. And there are other places in the Quran, I think in Surah Ar-Ra'd, where Allah says, He dignifies whomever He wishes and He humiliates whomever He wishes.

And it's part of the dua that we're taught to say, that oh Allah, you dignify whom you wish and you humiliate whom you wish. So respect and honor comes from Allah. So if respect and honor comes from Allah, then why should we do things that we know Allah does not like for people to respect us? You see, this is our psychology.

This is how shaitan has tricked the world and tricked humanity into doing things that are not going to be productive. He gets you to do something thinking you're going to be successful. When at the end of the day, you're only heading for destruction.

The Reality of Disobeying Allah for People

Because if your friends tell you, look man, we're going to play this football game, there's no time to pray right now, we're in the middle of a football game. You can't walk off the field, what is wrong with you? And you give in to it and you miss salah. Do any of you know what the Prophet said about missing one salah, willingly, knowingly, doing it knowingly? He said it's as if that person has lost the entire world and everything that it contains.

Missing one salah for a football game. But peer pressure is like that. Peer pressure will push us.

But we have to remember, we have to remember that pleasing Allah is a win-win. Why? Because at the end of this hadith that I told you at the beginning, the Prophet said also:

Sunan Ibn Hibban (Sahih)

That whosoever seeks to please Allah, even if the people don't like it, even if the people are displeased with it, even if your friends don't like that you've walked off the football pitch in the middle of the game, they're mad, they're outrageous.

Even if your co-workers don't like that you take off on Fridays to go to Jumu'ah, you take off two, three times a day at work to pray, you fast during the month of Ramadan, you don't go to their holiday parties, you don't get involved in any of the nonsense that they get involved in and Allah is displeased with. Even if your family is not pleased with the fact that now you want to be a better Muslim, and you want to start doing the things that Allah has commanded you to do, the sisters who want to start wearing hijab, even though it's not a norm in their family, or the brothers who now want to start living their deen, they want to grow their beard, they want to pull

their pants up, they want to pray five times a day, they want to do all of these things that the family sees, you're going too far. We were born and raised as Muslims, we don't need all this other nonsense, it's in our blood.

I've heard that so many times, it's in our blood, we were raised with Islam, it's in our blood. I said the Prophet, the only thing that runs through your blood is shaitan. That's it.

So, it doesn't matter what people think, if this person does what they do, to please Allah alone, not even fearing as Allah says, the blame of the blamers, not even caring about what they say, what they think, what they feel, then the Prophet said, Allah would become pleased with that person, and he would make the people pleased with that person. Eventually the people would become pleased with that person. It doesn't mean that person is not going to have enemies, haters, because if we say that, then we would say that the system is wrong when it comes to the Prophets and Messengers.

They were the best of us in this, but they had enemies. But one thing that Allah gave every one of His Messengers and Prophets was izzah, honor, dignity, respect even from their enemies. Even the people who hated them, respected them.

Obedience to Allah Comes First

You see this is the scenario when it comes to choosing between obeying our friends, obeying our co-workers, obeying our family, and obeying Allah. The obedience of Allah is first. The Prophet said authentically, there is no obedience. There is no obedience to anything or anyone that involves the disobedience to Allah. That's the reality. Young men and the sisters back there, you're commanded by Allah to obey your parents.

Obey your parents. And not even to utter a word of umph to them, not even talk back to them, not even look wrong at them, not even smirk at them, not even stamp your feet at them. This is what Allah has commanded you to be with your parents.

But the moment a parent asks their child to do something that is disobedient to Allah, or the moment a parent of a child tries to prevent that child from doing something that Allah has commanded or favored, then that obedience is no more. That's where you draw the line. I love you, but I can't obey you in disobedience to my Creator.

Because when you go to the grave, you go by yourself. When Allah created you, did He ask anyone to create you? Young man, when Allah created you, did He go ask your mom and dad to create you? No. He didn't ask them.

He didn't ask them, therefore you need no one's permission to serve Allah. No one. And this is famously said by Ali (radiAllahu anhu), as an eight-year-old boy.

Story of Ali (RA) Accepting Islam

As a little boy, the Prophet went to him and asked him to accept Islam. Do any of you know what he said? He needed to go ask someone. Who did he need to ask? No, he needed to ask his father.

He said, I need to go ask my father. That's the respect he had for his father. So he went to sleep that night and was going to go ask his father the next day. And the next morning he woke up and came straight to the Prophet and had thought about it all night. He said, Allah did not ask my father to create me, therefore I don't think I need my father's permission to worship him. And he took a shahada right there on the spot.

And we know his father. Who was his father? Abu Talib. Who never accepted Islam, even though he was favorable towards it for most of his life.

But you see, this is the reality when it comes to Allah. When it comes to whom you should love the most, who do you think you should love the most? The most out of anything. You're supposed to love Allah first.

More than anything. More than your mom? Yes, more than your mom. More than your dad? Yeah. More than your brothers and sisters? Yeah, absolutely. And right below Allah, when it comes to your love, do you know who's next? No. The Prophet Muhammad.

We're supposed to love the Prophet more than our father, more than our mother, more than our own selves. There was a famous thing the companions used to always say to the Prophet. And it was a way of showing endearment to him.

They used to say, may my mother and father be sacrificed for you. They used to look at the Prophet and say, may my mother and father be sacrificed for you. This was what they were saying about their own parents.

This was the dedication they had to Allah and His Messenger. There was once a tabi' who was a follower of the companions. He was a man who came after the companions and he learned and saw the companions.

He asked one of the companions one day, how did you treat the Messenger of Allah when he was with you? And they said, you know we treated him such and such. This tabi' said, if he were with us, we would have carried him on our shoulders. If he were with us, we would have carried him on our shoulders.

And you have to understand that this time the Islamic empire was great. There was wealth, there was ease, there was comfort, security. So that companion looked at him and said, don't say what you would have done in our place.

You have it so good now. He said, we killed our own family over this religion. Some of us killed our own uncles. Some of us slaughtered our own brothers over this religion, over this deen. So don't you dare say how you would have acted in our place. We spilled our own family's blood for the sake of this.

Story of the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah

That's the reality of the commitment to Allah and His Messenger. There was once a companion, and I'm just gonna tell you a few stories to show you how strong that commitment is supposed to be. How many of you have ever heard of the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah? Raise your hand if you've heard of the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah.

Young men, you should know this. This is Islam history 101. You need to do some research.

The Treaty of Hudaybiyyah

The Treaty of Hudaybiyyah was a covenant between the Prophet ﷺ and the Meccans that they could make hajj the following year. Some of the names are going out of my mind, but I think it was, no it wasn't Suhayl. Who was the Messenger's name who came before Suhayl? There was a Messenger they sent.

Names, I'm horrible, trust me. I will remember a story to the top to the bottom, every detail. When it comes to names, there's something in my brain, names don't stick there.

There was a person sent before Suhayl bin Amr. And when he came in to see the Prophet ﷺ, because the Meccans said, go see and talk to him and tell us what's going on. Urwa bin Mas'ud, yes it was Urwa.

It was Urwa bin Mas'ud that came. And standing next to the Prophet, there was a man in full armor. Head to toe, you couldn't even see him. Couldn't even see him. And when Urwa sat down in front of the Prophet ﷺ, he tried to reach out and touch his beard. And this person standing next to the Prophet hit his hand.

Boom! Knocked it back. So he looked at him like, this is not appropriate behavior for a guest. So he reached out again.

And the person hit his hand again and then said to him, if you try that again, you will not get that hand back. You won't get that hand back. And so when Urwa was looking at the Prophet ﷺ, he said, who is this tyrant here?

He's the roughest person I've ever seen.

And he's the worst of you. Do you know who that man was? It was his nephew. It was his nephew.

He said, that is your nephew treating you like that. And he was shocked. He was absolutely mortified that his own nephew would not even let him touch the beard of the Prophet ﷺ. Threatened to take his hand off.

And then when Urwa went back to the Meccans, even though he was an enemy to Islam, do you know what he told them? He said, whatever this man has offered you, you better accept it. Because I have seen the Kisra. I have seen the Negus.

I have seen the emperors of Rome. But I have never, ever, ever seen anyone treated the way that the companions of the Prophet ﷺ treat him. Whenever he speaks, they sit down as if they had birds on their head.

Whenever he makes wudu, they rush to get the droppings before they hit the ground and rub it on their faces.

And if a hair falls out of his beard, they fight with one another over who will take possession of it. He said, I think they will never give him up to you until the last man of them is dead.

The Dedication of the Companions

And this was the reality of the companions of the Prophet ﷺ. They were dedicated, life and limb. Life and limb dedication to Allah and his Messenger ﷺ. And when it came to what Allah wanted, that is where they put their priorities. What Allah wanted.

The thought of what people thought about it, did not even run through their mind. It was not even something that calculated in their decisions, what people would think about it. Because these people had already walked away from everything.

They had walked away from their families. They had walked away from their religion. They had walked away from their whole entire world. They walked away from it. And many of them walked away from it with nothing. To be outcast, to be banished, to be thrown away like trash.

So they had already made a strong decision for dedication to Allah and his Messenger ﷺ. But they lived a life like that. And look what they accomplished. They accomplished with such small numbers, what great civilizations have not been able to accomplish.

Because everybody talks about when I say, and I've been to other lectures that say, and I've said Islam was a great civilization at once. And they said, yes, but there are other civilizations that were great that have come and gone. I said, ah, but that's where we're different.

We've come and we've gone nowhere. We just have slipped a little bit, but we're still here. We're still here. We have the capacity to change the world like the companions did. We do. They were so small.

The Battle of Badr

The first time that there was a major conflict between truth and falsehood, between haq and batil, in the life of the Prophet ﷺ was the Battle of Badr. Where the Muslims only numbered 313 against 3000. Numbers that are staggering, 10 to 1. Would you like it if anybody put you in the street with 10 guys and said you need to fight all of them? That's not good odds.

That's not good odds. But for the companions, it was not good odds for the Meccans. They didn't have enough.

Because the Prophet ﷺ, this is his dedication and love for the companions, is that he stood in front of Allah on the battlefield. And he said, oh Allah, if these few are defeated today, you won't be worshipped on the earth anymore. If these few are defeated today, mainly telling Allah, this is all you got.

This is what you have. And they are the ones of holding the banner of tawhid in the world right now. And if you allow us to be defeated, you won't be worshipped on the earth anymore.

And what happened? What happened in the battle of Badr? They won. Why? Because Allah sent his aid. He aids the believers, ya Hanukkah Allah. He aids the believers who dedicate to him. So we have to look at it. Who is more important? Your friends or Allah? Allah.

So if your friends are telling you to do one thing, your co-workers are telling you to do one thing, your family is telling you to do one thing, but Allah is telling you to do another thing, what should you do? You should do what Allah says. Is that the easiest thing to do? No. No, obeying Allah is not easy.

It's not easy. Anybody who thinks it's easy has gone mad, insane. How many of you think Islam is easy? Going to Jannah is easy.

The Path to Jannah is Surrounded by Hardship

If going to Jannah was easy, everybody would be doing it. If Islam was easy, everybody would be in it. But the Prophet ﷺ said, and this is about Jannah.

How many of you want Jannah? How many of you want to go to Paradise? Raise your hand. Put your feet up if you want. We want to go to Jannah. We desire Jannah. And that's okay. It's okay to beg for Jannah.

Beg Allah for Jannah. You know the Prophet ﷺ said, when Allah created Jannah and Nar, Heaven and Hell. He just created it and then told Angel Jibreel (alaihi salam), go look at it.

Go look at what I've created. Jibreel (alaihi salam) went to look at Heaven, Jannah, and he came back and you know what he told Allah? He said, I don't think anybody who hears about this place is not going to go there. I mean, ridiculous.

Anybody who hears of this place, they're going to go. And he went to Nar, and he came back and told Allah, if anybody knows of this place, they would never go here. Why would you even create something that nobody's going to go to? No one, no one.

If someone told you there's a pit of fire that will burn you forever down the street, how many of you want to run and jump into it? Nobody, no one. But then Allah in His infinite wisdom to teach us a lesson, He surrounded Jannah by hardship, by difficulties, by trials, by tests. And then He surrounded the fire of Hell with desires, the things that we love, the things that we covet, the things that we want so much.

And He told Jibreel (alaihi salam), go back and look at them again, I did some remodeling. This remodeling, go back and look at it. So Jibreel (alaihi salam) went and looked at Jannah, and he came back and he said, Oh Allah, I don't think anybody's going to make it.

I don't think anyone's going to make it to this place. And then he went and looked at Nahr, the Hell fire, and he came back and he told Allah, My Lord, I think everybody's going here. I think everyone's going to be here.

So this is the reality. And most people think, or excuse me, a lot of people think, and we have this conception, that maybe we can catapult over the hardship and just land in the middle of Jannah. Maybe there's a shortcut, there's an underground tunnel.

It doesn't work like that. If you want Jannah, you better go through some hardship. You better be ready for it. You better be ready for it. So if you suffer in this life because of your obedience to Allah, if you suffer in this life because of your dedication to Islam, then take that as a consolation. Take that as good tidings that Allah is preparing you for Jannah.

Because that's the reality of the hardship for the believer. When a believer suffers, and he suffers because of his obedience to Allah, then Allah is only doing one of two things. Allah is either forgiving them of sin, or He is raising their ranks in Jannah.

And which one of those is bad? Neither one. Neither one. Because when we make it to Paradise, brothers and sisters, all of that hardship, all of that struggle, all of that sacrifice, all of those years of turmoil and stress, they won't matter anymore.

They won't even matter. No one will be in Jannah asking the next person, how did you get here? What did you have to do to get here? No, because their position in Jannah will prove what they had to do to get there. You'll be able to look at their house and tell what they went through to get there.

The Prophet ﷺ said, on the day of judgment, on the day of judgment Allah will take the person who had the best life in this world. Disbeliever or rebellious against Allah. The best life. Allah gave him the most money, more than with people we've ever heard of. He had the most power, the most success. His life was nothing but good, from beginning to end.

And Allah will take that person, and He will dip him in hell fire for one second and pull him out. Just one second, he'll taste the fire and come out. And Allah will say, My slave, did you ever go through any good in your life? And that person will say, Wallahi, by my Lord, I never had any good.

It wasn't worth it. It's not worth it. When you taste Jahannam, it's not worth it anymore. Even if you were given a thousand million years to live, it's not worth it. But on the flip side, Allah will take the Muslim who suffered the most. The believer who suffered the most.

He went through the most hardships, the most trials, the most tribulations. His life was misery. And most people who saw him would have thought, this guy lived a miserable life.

But Allah will dip him in Jannah for one second and pull him out. Just one taste of Jannah. And Allah will say, My slave, did you ever go through any hardship in that world? And he will say, Wallahi, by my Lord, I never suffered anything.

Because it's all worth it. At the end of the day, it'll all be worth it. You see, this is the reality of life, brothers and sisters.

This Life is a Test

This is not what it's all about. This is not what it's about. We were not created by Allah for this world. Did any of you know that? Do you know that? Allah did not create you here, for this world. Where did Allah create Adam (alayhi salam)? In Jannah. He created him in Jannah.

Where did Adam and Eve first live? Jannah. And then they were put down to this earth to be tested and tried. But there was a reason and a wisdom behind Allah placing them in Jannah.

It shows us that that's where Allah created us to be. Allah created human beings for paradise. You have to imagine, think about the mercy of Allah. Allah created Adam and gave him Jannah straight away. Straight away gave him all the paradises and all the glories of Jannah to let us know that that's how much he loved this creation of insan. But we had to prove ourselves.

We had to be worthy of that position now. And this is how we live our lives. Struggling to do the right thing in a world that's telling you always to do the wrong thing.

Always. If you listen to the adverts on TV and every advert you see on the news and every advert you see in the newspaper and every fashion trend and every supermodel and every rap star and every football player. You would live a life that would destroy you.

None of it would be pleasing to Allah because that's what the world wants. That's what Shaytan who has dominion over this earth wants. He knows he's going to hell. He knows that it's over for him. So guess what? He wants some company. He wants to prove that that insan that Allah created wasn't as great as Allah said it was.

He wants to prove to Allah that I make sure I'll get all of them if I can. I'll show you that they weren't worthy of being given the khilafah that you gave them. And Allah told them, go ahead, try.

Go ahead, do it. You will get all of them. Sure of that, except for my slaves. My chosen slaves, you won't be able to harm them because I will protect them. You see this is the beauty of being a Muslim. It's the beauty of being a Muslim.

Allah is the Protector of Believers

A Muslim doesn't need a bodyguard. A true believer doesn't need bodyguards. Why? Who protects the believers? Allah.

And if I wanted a bodyguard, that's the best one. Even the Prophet ﷺ, he used to have bodyguards in the very beginning. He had people that would stand outside his house.

And then one day Allah told him he was the protector of the believers and that Allah would protect him. The Prophet came to the door and said, you all can go. I don't need you anymore.

Allah said, you'll protect me? Go ahead. Live your life. That's the reality of the believer.

The believer is someone who doesn't fear what other people think about them. People talk behind their backs. So what? They talked about the best of us behind our backs.

The Prophet ﷺ was the worst slandered of all of us. And Allah has commanded us to make salah on him and give salam to him every day because of the honor that he receives. And every single believer that ever accepts Islam from the time of the initiation of the Prophet ﷺ until the day of judgment, guess who gets the reward of every one of their good deeds? The Prophet ﷺ.

He will have the reward of every believer. That's izzah. That's honor.

So let them say what they want to say about our beloved Prophet ﷺ. Let them call him this and call him that. Whatever. You're saying it in a temporary world where there's no real truth. There's no real certainty in this life. The real reality:

ذُلِكَ الْيَوْمُ الْحَقُّ

Reference: Quran 78:39

That is the day we will stand in front of Allah and then we'll know who's a loser and we'll know who's a winner.

And that's it.

Because someone can live their life in this world and they look like they have everything. They got money. They got cars. They got everything that a person can want. They look like they live in the life.

But if on the day of judgment Allah throws them in the hell fire forever, were they a winner or a loser? They're losers. They're losers. They were losers now and they'll be losers then.

But someone can suffer in this life. Struggle. Be poor. Be homeless. Be eating out of trash cans. Be in prison. Be tortured. Have nothing. Be talked about. Be laughed at, mocked at, spat at for their whole life. And if Allah places that person in the highest ranks of Jannatul Firdos, was that person a winner or a loser? They're a winner. They're a winner on that day and they're a winner today.

See, that's the reality of being a believer. It doesn't matter what people think. It doesn't matter. The only thing the believer should have concern on is what Allah thinks. And that doesn't mean you're going to be an angel. You can't be.

Understanding Sin and Repentance

If Allah wanted you to be an angel and never committed any sins, would He not have created you like an angel? He would have created you without the ability to choose. You would have been an angel. But Allah created you knowing that you would sometimes obey Him and sometimes disobey Him.

And I'm going to give you a small little story to remind you about that. Because a lot of our youth, one of the things that plagues our youth so much is their inability to understand sin. They get on deen and they start wanting to be a good Muslim.

They slip one time and they go off the path. Because they figured, oh, I've screwed up. You know, it's too late for me. I've screwed up. Or I've screwed up once and twice and three times. It's over for me. There's no reason to come back. There's no reason to keep trying. And that's one of shaitan's greatest tricks to mankind.

Greatest tricks to mankind is to make them doubt Allah and His ability to have mercy. Because when Allah created human beings, when He was going to create human beings, He said to the angels what in Surah Baqarah?

Verily, I am going to place on the earth, I'm going to place on it a khalifa. Now that word khalifa was understood by the angels. They understood this is something dignified, honored, respected that Allah is going to create. And Allah had created before us, what did He create? Jinn. Jinn existed before us.

And the angels had seen what happens, what happens when Allah creates something that has a right to choose. They screw up. So the angels asked Allah what? Our Lord, why would You place on it one who will cause mischief and shed blood? While we celebrate Your praises day and night.

So the angels are saying, why are You going to create another thing that's going to do what the other thing has done? If You want to be praised, we praise You. We worship You. If that's what You want, we do that. We don't ever fail at it. And were the angels right about us? Oh yeah, they were right. We are the biggest mischief makers.

And we shed blood like there's no tomorrow. We kill each other like we slaughter animals to eat. And that's the reality.

But Allah said to the angels something very, very beautiful. He didn't even answer them and explain himself. What did He say? I know what you don't know.

You see, Allah said, there's something I know that you don't know about this khalifah. And that's the beauty of it. Because Allah created Adam (AS). And Allah honored him.

And Shaytan, who was Iblis at the time, Iblis saw this khalifah that Allah had created before it was even given a soul. And he automatically hated it. Because Allah favored it so much.

He looked at it, he went through it, he kicked it. What is this thing? Why is Allah giving this thing so much honor and favor? Don't get it. Then Allah created it.

Adam (AS) and he told everything, bow to this. Angels and jinn, bow to this that I have created. And they all did. Except for Iblis. And then Shaytan became the enemy to mankind. And then Shaytan tricked Adam and Eve, both of them together, simultaneously, to disobey Allah.

What were they not supposed to do? They weren't supposed to eat from that one tree. Allah told them, Jannah is yours. Have whatever you wish. They were given Jannah. Jannah is full of everything you could desire. Jannah is if you thought of something, it comes to you.

You see a bird walking through the field and you say, hmm, that bird looks good. Next thing you know, it's on a tray right in front of you. Broad, grilled, rotisserie, whatever way you like it.

Jannah is have it your way. Have it your way every day, all day. But Allah said, this one tree, don't touch that one.

And guess what? It's the nature of the human being, it's the nature of the insan that Allah created it, that it's going to have that conflict. Because without that conflict, there's no test. There was that conflict.

And what did Shaytan trick them and said, Allah is keeping something from you. And you have to understand that this is just the nature of the human being. Why do you think we're called insan? What does insan mean? Anybody know? We forget.

We forget quickly. Allah had given them anything they wanted. But guess what they ended up wanting? That one thing they couldn't have. They ended up desiring that one thing they couldn't have. Why? Because that's the nature of man. And Shaytan knows how to exploit that.

And then they ate from the tree, and Allah told them, you have to get down from here. You have to get down from here because this is a place for perfection. There's nothing imperfect in Jannah.

The Story of Adam's Forgiveness

You got to go. Now as they were being kicked out, and this is recorded in Tafsir Ibn Kathir. As they were being exited, Adam (AS) asked Allah something. He said, my Lord, did you not create me with your own two hands?

And Allah said, yes, yes I did.

And then he said, and when you created me with your own two hands, did you not breathe into me the breath of life? And Allah says, yes, I did. And then when I was given the breath of life and sneezed, did you not say:

Yes, yes I did. He said, and when you put me in the garden, didn't you already know I was going to eat from that tree? Didn't you already know before creating me, before putting me in Jannah, that I was already going to eat from that tree? You knew it.

You created that tree knowing I would eat from it. Did you not? And Allah said, yes, I already knew you were going to eat from that tree. So then Adam (AS) said, can you not forgive me for it and put me back in that Jannah one day? And Allah says, yes, yes I will.

You see this is the system of Allah for creation. He created us for Jannah. He let us know that through our creation. But wanted us to be tested and to be worthy of it. To be worthy of it, because it's something to be worthy of, it's something to be achieved. And then Allah gifted us with prophets and messengers and guidance, all of these things.

But Allah already knew you were going to screw up. He already knew you were going to make mistakes. How many of you in this room have ever made a mistake? Raise your hand. You've ever committed a sin? You're not exposing your sins because I know you've already committed a sin. All of us. Every one of us.

Prophet (AS) said, every son of Adam sins. Kullu. All of them. Every son of Adam, every child that has come out of the loins of Adam (AS) and Eve will sin. Guaranteed. So we all make mistakes.

So life is not about whether or not you're going to make a mistake. Life is not about whether you're going to screw up or not sometimes. Life is not about whether you're going to give in to your friends sometimes or not.

It's going to happen eventually. You're going to mess up young man. You're going to mess up. Right? Us older gentlemen. We screw up. A lot. A lot. So be prepared. But what life is about, it's how you deal with those mistakes.

It's how you deal with those mistakes. It's how you take care of the answer. Now when it came to Adam (AS), the first mistake, the first disobedience of Allah ever, according to the insan, with the insan, how did he fix it? How did Allah teach him to fix it? Tawbah.

Turning back to Allah. Our Lord, we have wronged our own souls. If you do not forgive us and have mercy on us, surely we will be amongst the khasireen, the losers.

We will be a loser. If you don't forgive me and have mercy on me, I'm a loser. I'm a loser.

And Allah forgave them. And taught human beings that, that is the system with Allah. I created you knowing you're gonna screw up.

But I also created a very, very, very simple system for you to fix it. And Allah says, when He forgives, it's as if it never happened. It's as if it never happened.

Between Allah and you, as if it did not occur. Allah wipes it. He wipes it.

This is why in the beginning of the salah, one of the duas that you're supposed to make is, Oh Allah, remove my sins as far away from me as the east is from the west. Meaning forgive me for my sins and remove them from me as far as the east is from the west. This is the reality, brothers and sisters.

Why Allah Created Humanity

Now, do you know why Allah said to the angels, I know what you don't know. It's beautiful, it's very beautiful. Allah could have been worshipped by anything He created.

Anything. If Allah wanted to be worshipped, He could have continued to create things that worship Him. The sticks worship Him, the rocks worship Him, the trees, the fish, the birds, the angels, the sun, the moon, the stars, everything.

Everything that exists within existence worships Allah and it is obedient to Him. The sun is a Muslim, the moon is a Muslim, the grass is a Muslim. Because what does a Muslim mean? One who submits to Allah and does Islam.

Submission to Allah. Cows are a Muslim, sheep are a Muslim. They're all Muslim because they do what Allah created them to do.

So Allah did not create us just because He needed more things to worship Him. He created us to worship Him, but He did not create just this insan and give it a choice of free will to be worshipped. Alone.

Allah's power, His quwwah, could be seen in that which He created. Allah created the universe and everything that is in it with one word. Kun. That's it. Kun. And it all existed.

That's power. That's extreme power. And Allah is going to demonstrate that power again on the day of judgment when just the way He created it, He will destroy it and roll it up in His hand.

He will roll up the heavens and the earth in His hand like a scroll and look at everyone, the people who used to fight over it. You killed each other over it. Allah will say, where are the kings of the earth now? Where's your kingdom? Where's your glory? Where's your honor? Where's your nation? I rolled it up like it was nothing.

You see, all of these things about Allah could be known. But one of the grandest and most beautiful attributes of Allah and the one with which He introduces Himself in the Quran, the attributes by which Allah introduces Himself in the Quran are what? Ar-Rahman, Ar-Rahim. You see, these two attributes, being forgiving, being merciful, Allah created something so that He could have mercy on it.

He created something so that He could forgive it. You see, Allah couldn't be known as Ar-Rahman if He had nothing to have mercy on. He wouldn't be known as Ar-Rahim, He wouldn't be known as Al-Ghafoor, He wouldn't be known as Al-Wadud, all of these attributes which we dearly love because we need them.

Allah wouldn't be known by those names if He did not create something that could disobey Him. That's why He told the angels, I know something you don't know, that I'm going to demonstrate my true ability, my true power. When I create something that has the right to disobey Me, and they will disobey Me, all of them, and because of their disobedience, I have the right to punish all of them.

Allah, one sin and Allah has the right to throw you in hell, and you could not complain. But Allah says, I will forgive some of them. There are some of them who will turn to Me and ask Me to forgive them, and I will forgive them, and that's true power.

It's forgiving when you have the right to punish, when you have the ability to punish, when you have everything within your power to punish, and you forgive anyway. That's true power. That's why the Prophet (SAW) said, the strong man is not the one who can knock the other man down, it's the one who can control himself when he's angry.

When he's ready to punish, he can control himself and be forbearing. That's true strength. And the most perfection of that is with Allah. You see, that's our life, brothers and sisters.

At least I put somebody to sleep. You see, that's what our life is all about. That's the reality, and we have to wake up to that.

Never Be Disappointed by Allah

So, it doesn't matter what your friends think about you. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if they don't like you. It doesn't matter if they call you names. It doesn't matter if they don't want to be your friends anymore. As long as you are dedicated to Allah, you'll never be disappointed.

You know, in my life, in my 33 years on this earth, many people have disappointed me in my life. Many people. And you will be disappointed by many people in your life.

It's the reality. We disappoint each other. But one thing, for 15 years after being Muslim, one thing I will guarantee you without a shadow of a doubt, I have never been disappointed by Allah. Never.

Never. Never once have I put my trust in my Creator and He disappointed me. Ever.

Personal Story: Choosing Allah Over Employment

I'll tell you one small story of my personal experience, and then we'll draw it to a close and take some Q&A inshaAllah. I was once, when I first moved down to Florida, I was only a Muslim for approximately 3 years at the time. And I first moved down to Florida to be with my dad because my dad had moved down there.

And jobs were a bit scarce at the time. So I got a job in construction. Building houses with cylinder blocks. I don't know what you guys call them. The big blocks with the holes in them. That they build the big buildings out of.

And I don't know if you know, but those things are really heavy. And when you spend all day long in the hot burning Florida summer sun, picking those things up, moving them, it's a rough job. But it was halal earning.

It was earning money that was halal. Now the first Friday came. First Friday came. It was time for Juma. A time where Allah has commanded to leave off trade and business. That's it.

You do not work during this time. End of story. And I told them that I was going to take a long lunch break today. You know, I'll work through my regular lunch break and then I'll take off and be extended at 1. Because I need to go to the mosque and pray. Now I was working with a bunch of rednecks. This is what we call them in the south.

Rednecks. I don't know what you guys call them here. But you know, country people who are not very educated and they're very racist and bigoted.

And they told me, you ain't going to no mosque for no Juma. We're going to leave our job to go to a mosque for Juma. You don't see us leaving to go to church.

I said, well you go to church on Sunday and that's not really my business. Friday at 1 is the time when I have to go. I'm not really asking you. I'm telling you. You can dock my pay. You can take it off my check.

I'm just not going to be here at that time. And they basically told me, if I left to go to Juma, don't come back. Don't come back.

And I had just moved to Florida. I can't afford to lose my job. I'll get kicked out of my place. You know, I can't afford to lose my job. This is all I got. And jobs were very hard to find.

I had to have a connection to get that one. So here I am left with a test. Here I am left with a test. Do I stand up and anger these people and walk away from money and walk away from my job? Most people would say that's insane. Just dumb. You're a dummy.

You're an idiot if you do that. You got to work, you got to live, you got to eat. And you know what I said? I thought to myself, I said, look, I might need your money, but you're not giving it to me.

You don't pay me. He looked at me like, what? I said, you don't pay me. I said, the one who created pays me.

And he wrote how much I would get paid in my life 50,000 years before he created anything. So obeying him is not going to decrease that sustenance. I said, so I'm going to Juma.

Keep whatever you want. I'll be back in two weeks to get my check. So I'm on my way to Juma.

And you know, I'm at war with myself. Because one part of me is like, you know, you did the right thing. You know, I was patting myself on the back. The other side of me is like, you bloody idiot. You know what I mean? What are you going to eat? How are you going to feed yourself? You know, we have this war that goes on inside of us. So I went to the Masjid.

And the Imam afterwards, he came out and he talked to me. This was my second, third Juma in Florida. But I had, you know, seen him a couple of times before.

And he owned a pizza shop. And I went there. Marvelous pizza. Some of the best pizza. He was a Palestinian brother. And he came up to me.

He said, Yusha, what are you doing for work now? You know, you just moved down here. You found a job. What are you doing for work? I said, actually I quit my job to come here.

You know, they wouldn't let me come to Juma. I quit my job and walked here. So I don't have a job now.

He said, I need some help in my pizza shop. He said, I was looking for someone. And my son, who I was friends with, said, you know, you should get this guy Yusha to come work at our pizza shop.

And he gave me a job that day, making twice the salary that I was making doing construction. And he came to be one of the most beautiful men I have ever met. Beautiful men I have ever met.

The most upright Muslim, secretive, pious, deeply knowledgeable Muslims that I have ever known. And he's like a second father to me. So you see, the Prophet ﷺ said:

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Whoever leaves something for the sake of Allah, Allah will replace it with something better.

Allah will replace it with something better. Sometimes it's just hard to do the right thing. It's really hard and we don't always make the right choices.

We don't always make the right choices. But one thing that we shouldn't do, one thing that we shouldn't do is not try to learn from our mistakes. We should try to learn and try to improve upon it.

Because you're going to screw up. Any mistake that you learn from is not a mistake. Any mistake that you don't learn from is a mistake.

And the Prophet ﷺ said, the believer is not stung from the same hole twice. He's not stung from the same hole twice. Meaning that if you've done something that didn't work before, and it got you in a lot of problems, just don't do it again.

Try something else. And if you screw that up too, then try something else. That's the point of life. It's like riding a bike. You fall down, you get back up. Eventually you learn how to ride it.

But it doesn't mean you're never going to fall off again. Or get into an accident, or something bad happens to you. So young men and women, brothers and sisters, we have to remember that Allah is in control of all the affairs of this world.

Allah is in Complete Control

He controls everything. Nothing happens within the creation of Allah that Allah is not in complete control of. So if something happens to you in your life, know that Allah is in control of that situation and try to see the wisdom behind it.

That there's some benefit. There's something to be learned, or there's something to be benefited either in this life or the next. And be satisfied with that. Satisfied with the qadr of Allah. Whatever Allah gives to me, that's it:

It is the will of Allah and He does whatever He wishes.

And we said alhamdulillah for all of it. And when you make mistakes in your life, when you mess up, do the right thing and fix it. Fix it.

Fix it with Allah. And if you've made mistakes with human beings, if you've messed up with your brothers and sisters, you've been mean to your mother or father, try to make it up. Try to make it up.

Whatever way you can, apologize. Because no amends can come without apologies. A lot of people like to bypass that and think that, oh if I'm just nice to the person now, it'll make up for all the crap I did to them.

It doesn't always work like that. You need to start by admitting to that person, I screwed up. Yeah, you're right, I made a mistake.

But we will make up for it and try to make amends inshaAllah ta'ala. Because we don't want to have to deal with these things in front of Allah. We'll have too many worries on the Day of Judgment to be thinking about the problems that I didn't settle between people.

Are you serious? Everybody will be running around like a crazy person. Babies will be turning gray-headed. The fire is licking our backs. The sun is burning at our heads. All this nonsense happened and we got to go stand in front of Allah and deal with the problem that I had with so and so and so and so because I was too big of an arrogant person or I had too much pride to do it here. And it'll look really, really foolish to do it in front of Allah.

So we try to fix those things here. But always know that if you're living right now, how many of you in this room are alive? Are you alive back there now? MashaAllah. How many of you in this room are breathing? Then guess what? You can still make it right with Allah.

You can still make it right with your friends that you've hurt. You can still make it right with your brothers and sisters and your family. It's not over till it's over.

The Battle Continues Until Death

It's not over till it's over. And we will never ever win this race. We will never win the battle of being a perfect person.

You'll never win the war with sin. You'll never win the war with shaitan. It's a war that will continue till the day you die.

So don't think that, oh I'm going to be a good Muslim for two weeks, get my certificate of good Muslimship, and that's it, I'm done. It doesn't work like that. It does not work like that.

One final story and we'll finish inshaAllah. How many of you know who Imam Ahmed is? Raise your hand. Imam Ahmed ibn Hanbal, rahimahullah ta'ala.

A man that was so close to Allah, that his dua caused the death of a khalifa. I don't know if many of you knew that. How many of you knew that story? That he made dua, I think it was Ma'mun.

Ma'mun was the khalifa at the time. He made dua as he was standing outside the palace of Ma'mun to be drug in, to be beaten again. And he said, oh Allah protect me from this tyrant.

And he died at that moment. He died. Allah took his whip and ripped his soul out. The angel of death went and ripped his soul out from the dua of Imam Ahmed. After that the people said, do not be afraid of the dua of this man. This man was close to Allah.

But when he was dying, his son Abdullah heard him saying, because he was going through what is known as sakratul mawt. You guys know what sakratul mawt is? It's the stupor of death. It's the time when you're passing from this world to the next world.

It's a drunk. Sakra means drunk. It's the drunkness of death.

So as he was going in and out of consciousness about to die, he was saying, no not yet, no not yet. And his son Abdullah was worried that my father is buckling, he's bending. At the time when this is the time when you should be firm.

This is the time where the believer is supposed to stand the strongest when death is approaching. And here is Imam Ahmed saying, no not yet, no not yet. So when he came out of this stupor, when he comes out of this stupor, his son says, ya abi, my father, why are you saying no not yet, no not yet? That's not a good thing to say.

He said, son, shaitan is here in this room with us. Because shaitan is at the deathbed of every believer.

Everyone, he makes sure he's there to try to pull you away, to try to pull you towards hellfire.

At the last second if he can get you, you're gone. You can be a believer all your life and shaitan can pull you at that very last moment of death. And you go straight into hellfire.

So shaitan makes a particular point to be at the bedside of the believers on their death. He said, shaitan is here, and as I am dying, he's biting his nails saying, I have lost you, oh Ahmed, I've lost you. And I am telling him, no not yet, no not yet.

Meaning no, I'm not done with you yet. Until the moment this soul is taken out, I'm not done with you and this war is not over with you. That's the reality. We'll battle shaitan to the day we die. To the day we die. And every day is a new war, it's a new battle, it's a new day.

So if you messed up yesterday, fix it today. You might mess up again tomorrow. But make sure that everything you do with your life.

Living by the Rule of Bismillah

One of my first imams told me, and we can't always follow this, but it was one of the best advice I've ever heard. He told me, if you live by these rules, you will live a beneficial life. He said, don't do anything.

And I may have told you guys this before, I've spoken to you so many times. He said, don't do anything, if you can't say bismillah before doing it. Don't do anything, you can't say bismillah before doing it.

It's a very beautiful advice, very hard to follow. But don't do anything that you can't say bismillah before.

Because he said, and he quoted me the hadith, that the Prophet (SAW) said, anything that does not begin with bismillah has no benefit.

It's devoid of benefit. This is an authentic hadith of the Prophet (SAW). And he said, and ask yourself before doing it, is this going to be beneficial to me, on the day I stand in front of Allah? If not, leave it alone. So if we can live by those rules, you can try to live by those rules.

Remember to say bismillah before everything. Because it's very hard to say bismillah before you do something bad. It's very hard to say bismillah and go punch your brother in the mouth.

It's a bit tough to do that. So if you can say bismillah, remember that if you can't say it before doing it, just don't do it. Try to inshaAllah.

Closing

And may Allah allow us to hear these words and accept the best of it. And anything that I have said that is good, know that all good is from Allah. All good comes from Allah.

And guess who you're only supposed to praise for it? Allah. There's a reason Allah began his book with alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. All praise belongs to Allah alone. Don't praise human beings. And if I have said things that are bad or wrong or incorrect, then that is from me, from my lack of information.

And I ask you to forgive me for it and correct me when you see me go wrong. Because Abu Bakr (RA) said, the best of my companions is the one who corrects me. The best of my companions is the one who corrects me.

So correct me when you see me wrong inshaAllah ta'ala. And I make dua for you, all of you. Then may Allah forgive us all of our sins and grant us the highest ranks of Jannah.

End of Khutbah