[Music]
in alhamdulillah
my dear brothers and
sisters I want to start off by telling a
short story this is a story of one of
the scholars of Hadith by the name of
Malik he says with his own hands I was
19 years old and I used to commit every
single sin possible drinking stealing
theft Zena all of it I had committed it
and this is how I would live my life day
to
day up and until one day I was walking
on the street and I saw a beautiful
young
girl and at that time I felt something
in my heart that it was time to change
my ways it was time to change who I was
so I decided that I was going to get
married and I was going to settle down
so some time goes by I get married and
alhamdulillah right after marriage Allah
subhana wa ta'ala blesses us with a
child a beautiful young girl just like
the one that we had seen and we named
her
Fatima and Fa
soon became the coolness of my eyes the
warmth of my heart so much so that each
and every day I would look forward to
spending time with her and one day as
she came and she sat on my lap I was
about to take a sip of alcohol at that
time and she took that glass and she
threw it away at that time I felt rage
inside of my heart thinking that had it
been anyone else I would have
slaughtered them but it was F
my
beloved and I couldn't do anything for
her or to her and they decided that day
that I was going to give up
drinking time went on I became a better
person I started praying I started
giving charity I started fasting but
when Fatima turned five Allah subhana wa
ta'ala tried me with a test so great I
don't think he's tried anyone in all of
humanity with such a trial he took
Fatima away from me Fatima died
so I went back to the drinking I went
back to the evil Deeds anything to take
away the pain anything to hide that pain
but it just wouldn't go away it got so
bad that I used to drink at night so I
would sleep throughout it and I would
drink during the day so that it could
sleep throughout it and one day I drank
so much in the morning that I just
completely passed
out and when I passed out I had a vision
the day of judgment had begun I woke up
people were running people were Furious
they were anxious they didn't know what
was going on and everyone was just
running from side to side so I started
to run with the
people I started to run towards a
mountain and as I got closer to this
mountain I started to notice that there
was a big black snake behind me with
each step it's getting closer and closer
to me at the foot of the mountain I see
a beautiful white man with a white lawn
long beard a face of light so I tell
this man old man for the sake of Allah
please help me against this
snake the old man says I am too weak I
am too feeble to help you perhaps if you
run up the mountain you may find someone
to help you so I run up the mountain I'm
running and I'm running and the snake is
still behind me and I see as I get to
the top of the mountain The Valleys of
hell are below me people being burnt
people people being punished people
being persecuted I knew that wasn't what
I wanted so I ran back down the hill and
I came back to the old man again and I
said oh Old man for the sake of Allah
please help me against this snake this
time he says perhaps if you run towards
the hills you will find someone to help
you so I ran and I ran and I'm running
out of breath my heart is beating faster
and faster the snake is getting closer
and closer but I start to hear something
I start to hear the playing of young
kids and the kids they're playing and
they're saying something they're saying
oh Fatima go and help your father I
think to myself could it be my very FAA
the one that had passed away and as they
get closer closer I see her in the
distance her arms wide open waiting for
me to get there and as I get to her I
embrace her she holds me with one hand
and pushes the snake away with the other
and the snake
disappears Tears start coming down my
eyes and I asked her oh Fatima what is
going on where are we what has happened
she says oh my father come and sit let
us sit under the shade so we sit under
the shade and she came and sat on my lap
just like she would sit in the
world and she said oh my father the day
of judgment has
begun that old white man that you saw
those were your good deeds
they had become so few that they were
unable to help you on this day that big
black snake that you saw those were your
bad Deeds so many so powerful that they
would have devoured you today had it not
been for me meaning the Calamity that he
had gone through oh my father has the
time not come for you to change your
ways she recited a verse from the Quran
has the time not come for the hearts of
the Believers to be moved by the
remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala
Malik he says I woke up at that time in
a state of panic and I heard the aan
going off for
Sal so I made woo I headed towards the
Masid lo and behold as I entered the
Masjid I hear the Imam reciting the
exact same
verse that has a time not come for the
hearts of the Believers to be moved by
the remembrance of
Allah from that day on I knew it was
time to change my life Allah had given
me a greater purpose and that is when
love for Islam truly entered into my
heart my dear brothers and sisters this
is the story of Malik one of the great
Scholars of Hadith if you look at his
life he lived a great life he became
known as the individual who would wake
up in the middle of the night and stand
in the middle of the street and tell the
people oh people wake up to worship your
lord wake up to your true success and he
was the one who would wake the people up
for
and how great was this man Malik let me
tell you a story of a thief who tried to
Rob
him a thief broke into his house one day
as Malik dinar was praying and and it's
dark there's no lights there's no oil
being burnt so this thief is feeling
around you know trying to find something
valuable and as he reaches out he
touches Malik Malik he grabs his arm he
grabs his hand and he doesn't let go as
he goes down into he brings him down
with him as he goes down into s he
brings him down with him Salah finally
finishes Malik he turns to the thief and
he says oh Thief what did you come to
steal did you not know that this was the
house of scholar and you're not going to
find anything but books the thief says I
did not know who I was
robbing but I will make a deal with you
let me go and I won't Rob your books
that's what he says to him Malik he says
let me make a deal with you pray two
raas with me and I won't report you to
the police the thief agrees he gives in
so you can imagine this thief he goes he
makes his woodoo he comes back they
start praying
they pray
to Malik he tells the thief you can now
leave you can disperse you know no
problems no trouble what do you think
the thief does the regular Thief he'd be
jumping for joy I didn't get caught and
he's heading out but the thief he says
oh Malik can I stay with you and pray
some more they prayed some more thean
for f goes Malik says okay you can leave
now the thief says do you mind if I go
with you to fuder they go to fuder
and he finished praying and Malik he's
like you can leave now you don't leave
me alone I need to study I need to
revise but the thief listen to this he
says the right of a Muslim upon another
Muslim is that if he visits him he can
stay with him for three
days now this part when I read it it
really got me I'm like Subhan Allah even
the thieves of back in the day they knew
their Hadith they're so
educated so he says I'm going to stay
with you for three days M scholar of
Hadith he can't refuse so for the next 3
days he stays with Malik fasting reading
praying that's how he's passing the
three days three days go by and Malik
literally fed up at this time he's like
please go on your way so finally the
thief leaves he goes back to his house
and all the other thieves are there that
are staying with him and they ask me
where did you go what happened did you
come back with some great amount of loot
that you disappeared and he says yes I
came back with the greatest loot you
could ever think of in fact I went to
steal someone's most precious pridee
and I came back with the greatest
treasure I could ever find I found my
Lord I found my
Creator and the thief he changed his
ways now this is the story of
Malik the reason why I mentioned this
the vast majority of you are youth and
you have very very Bright Futures ahead
of you and even though I'm not too much
older than yourselves I consider all of
you as my younger brothers and sisters
even our aunties and uncles fine fine
you guys are still my aunties and uncles
but I'm still like the older brother and
honestly from the bottom of my of my
heart I love all of you for the sake of
Allah and I truly wish well for you and
this is what I want to discuss in our
discussion today how do we get brighter
futures for ourselves Allah has given us
so much potential how do we realize that
potential Allah subhana wa ta'ala has
created seven key categories in our Liv
and all of these categories in our lives
they need to be in Balance they need to
be in Balance why do they need to be in
Balance because all of you are living
for one moment in your life literally
you're living for one moment in your
life and the moment you are living for
is that moment just before your death
that moment just before your death
because the deed that you die upon is
the deed that you will be raised up upon
He Who who is raised upon a good deed
then is Hereafter is bright but he who
is raised on a bad deed then his
Hereafter is going to be very dim very
meager very difficult and that's
something none of us want to face so how
do we get to the level where we die upon
that good deed so these seven categories
that we need to epitomize and realize
their full
potential they are our Dean our
education our careers our social life
our health our finances and our
families and I'll speak briefly about
each of them hoping to Enlighten you in
at least one of these categories so now
when we talk about reaching a balance in
all of them I want you to imagine that
each of these categories is a spoke on
the wheel meaning that if even one of
these is out of balance that wheel will
not go straight it will teeter and
totter you will not be heading somewhere
straight but if they are in Balance then
you will be going straight I also want
you to realize that since it is a wheel
if it is a very small wheel you won't be
going too quick you won't be going too
far it can't hold much weight but the
bigger the wheel gets the more weight it
can hold the faster it can go and this
is what I want you to focus on that each
of these categories there is a scale of
1 to 10 in those categories
you know what the one is you know what
the 10 is now what we need to figure out
is how do we get you to that 10 so when
I talk about each of these categories
for those of you who are taking notes I
also want you to think about what would
a 10 in religion look like for you
meaning if I was to ask you how is your
Dean today and you said it is 10 out of
10 what does 10 out of 10 actually look
like then we can think about practical
steps of how to get there so when we
talk about Dean a balance in our Dean
the ultimate balance in our Dean is
about investing in our how Allah subhana
wa tala gave us these 60 or 70 years to
prepare for an eternal life so when you
think about the you want to think about
how can I get the greenest of green
Gardens in the Hereafter how can I get
the biggest of palaces how can I get the
best of company in the Hereafter so when
you think about Dean think about those
deeds that will get you the greatest
amount of reward
now I can tell you something from a
financial perspective there is a proverb
in the English language that you give a
man a fish you fed him for one day but
you teach a man how to fish and you fed
him for a lifetime similarly your
charity if you were to give someone food
for one day you've given them a meal
you've sufficed them and that is a
beautiful deed to do but imagine if you
open up a soup kitchen imagine you open
up a shelter for the homeless and for
the poor even after you die each person
that is fed each person that is
sheltered you continue to get that
reward what is other deed like this
educating people teaching them their the
religion you may be a good writer and
article that you leave behind on the
internet that people benefit from even
after you die you get rewarded for it
perhaps you're a good speaker give a
lecture have it recorded put it up on
the internet let the people benefit so
when you think think about your Dean
think about the absolute utmost benefit
that you can provide for Humanity and
those are the types of Deeds you want to
look at so whether financially whether
educationally whatever it may be always
think about maximizing your
benefit now on a more personal level you
also need to focus on the state of your
heart and the state of your tongue
because you'll notice that these two are
very closely tied down people who have
good tongues will have good hearts and
people who have good Hearts will have
good tongues and one of the best things
that you can do with your tongue is to
make and particular types
of if you look in this book called
Muslim or remembrances of the morning
and the evening or the Fortress of the
Muslim the various versions that are out
there you will see it is filled with
remembrances some of them have such huge
benefits one of them the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam said that
whoever says
three times in the morning then the
whole day he will not be harmed by any
evil let me give you another example
imagine how easy Paradise is not
difficult easy the messenger of Allah
sallallahu alaihi wasallam said that
whoever says the following Dua with
faith and conviction he shall enter
paradise and if he says it during the
night and he dies with faith and
conviction he shall enter Paradise what
is that Dua
it's these simple five lines you say
them once in the morning once in the
evening you die during that day with
faith your promised Paradise let me give
you one last example and all these
examples that I'm giving you if you
don't you know remember them or you
don't have time to write them down
contact me on my Facebook page
facebook.com/ and I'll you know help you
find them or I'll repeat them over
there a third one the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam once saw one of his
wives in her house she was making as he
was leaving he comes back closer to time
and she's still sitting there making VI
he asked her have you been making VI
this whole time she says yes the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam told her at
that time let me teach you something
that if you were just to say this three
times it would suffice you from making
VI the whole morning
sub now these simple duas these simple
you may think that it's just something
on the tongue but you do not realize the
spiritual benefit that it pass it will
help you become a spiritual person help
you become closer to Allah subhana wa
ta'ala because the only way you will
perform these Adar is if you're
remembering Allah and if you're
remembering Allah that is the first step
in be defeating Shan in this battle
against him so that is the category of
the dean number two our
education I remember when I was young
you know education was just something we
did out of habit you know parents forced
us to go to school so we did it but As I
Grew Older I realized Subhan Allah what
a wasted
opportunity and you'll notice that when
we talk about education it's not merely
just about schooling there's an
excellent quote by Mark Twain where he
said I never let my schooling interfere
with my education meaning that when you
go to school yes you will learn
something but the real education that
you get is from life it is from
experience now Ed education is something
very important it is a lifelong journey
the prophet sallallahu alai wasallam
said that the seeking of knowledge is
compulsory upon each and every Muslim so
it is a lifelong journey not just
because if you memorize the Quran or you
memorize the books of Hadith does your
education end not just because you get a
PhD in something does your education end
but rather you continuously learning and
that is why for those of you who have
heard of Warren Buffett one of the
richest men in the the world he was
asked you know what would you advise
people to invest in he told the the
audience invest
$100,000 in yourself before you ever
invest $10,000 in a business meaning
that you yourself are the biggest asset
that you can ever have you want to be
successful invest in yourself invest in
your education what type of education
should you focus on focus on time
management learn how to manage your time
time focus on finances learn how to
manage your finances and third and most
importantly learn how to deal with
others learn how to empathize and
sympathize and realize where other
people are coming from because at the
end of the day we're not looking for
individuals we're looking for movements
we're looking for leaders and all these
three components are needed you need to
be able to manage your time you need to
be able to manage your finances and you
need to be able to lead people so one of
the books I would recommend definitely
that that all of you should read is Dale
Carnegie's you know uh How to Win
Friends and Influence People a fantastic
book in that section then we move on to
the category of your
career now when you go to school
generally speaking this is how it is in
the west I'm not really sure how it is
in Malaysia but I'm assuming it's very
similar when you go to school in the
west up until University they train you
to become employees your ultimate goal
is to become an employee of some
corporate firm or of some
organization but in reality when we talk
about careers as Muslims we're looking
to become leaders we are looking to
become employers we want to provide drop
opportunities for other people so what
you want to do is once you decide
something to study get experience in it
for a little while but then become a
leader in that field start up your own
business in that field and become an
employer now how do you decide what
career you should go into the careers
that you decide it should be based upon
one single factor and one factor alone
what do you enjoy doing and what are you
passionate about how do you figure out
what you enjoy what you are passionate
about if you had to do that job for free
you would do it that is how passionate
and enjoyable it should be to you and
that is the career you should go into
now once you figure out what your
passion is you then need to figure out
okay how do I make money out of this
passion and that is the career that you
you decide to choose do not let Society
dictate what you become you know if you
really enjoy farming and agriculture
don't let Society tell you that you have
to become a doctor or an engineer or
anything else but rather do what you are
passionate about and you will see that
is where truly your success will lie the
fourth category that we will be speaking
about is your social
life now your social life from a
sociological perspective you are the
average
of The Five People You spend the most
amount of time with you are the average
of The Five People You spend the most
amount of time with so think about all
the people that you spend time with the
five closest of them you are the average
of those five people so you want to
surround yourself with good people
people who are successful people who
have and have big aspirations they want
to go somewhere in life at the same time
you want to make sure that these people
have a conscious morality
these people have ethics they have
values because the messenger of Allah
sallallahu alaihi wasallam he informed
us way before any of these studies took
place that indeed a man he will be on
the dean of his friend and Dean is not
just religion but is a way of life so
you know actually this is u a line from
one of bu's poems he's probably sitting
somewhere in the audience I've heard a
lot of his poems but there's this one
line that sticks out Above the Rest
where he says if you're hanging around
with nine idiots you're probably the
10th and that's true in reality that's
the way it is so when you think about
social life you want to surround
yourself with the best of people high
aspirations High values good Dean those
are the people you want to hang around
with now what is the social activity you
should be doing social activity should
not just be playing video games going
out to eat going shopping it needs to be
more than that it needs to be an
experience and that is why I would
suggest that while you're in your youth
you're not married you're still single
take the opportunity to travel nowadays
travel doesn't cost much at all you can
go on a journey for maybe about 2 or
3,000 Rings you know have a good time
and experience new cultures experience
new foods increase your horizons so
social activities that you want to do
should be productive it should not just
be a mere waste of time so think about
traveling with your friends and you'll
see this is one of the ways you truly
get to know your friends
he said you will not truly know a person
until you've done three things with them
you've traveled with them you've done
business with them or you've spent a
night with them meaning you've slept
over uh at some place and you get to
know how their true reality is are they
waking up for are they waking up for so
on and so forth so that is how you truly
get to know your friends so your Social
Circle you need to choose it very wisely
number five your health the messenger of
Allah sallallahu alaihi wasallam told
us the two blessings that most of
mankind is heedless of is free time and
their health your health is very
important and it takes simple small
steps to increase and improve your
health as you grow older you'll see it
becomes a lot more difficult to control
your health either because of time
constraints or for just your body aging
it becomes very difficult so I would
suggest that while you're in the prime
of your youth try to spend at least just
half an hour a day trying to do some
sort of physical activity table tennis
jogging running basketball soccer
whatever it may be at least half an hour
a day and you'll notice that just by
half an hour a day you will be
85% more protected from diseases than
the person who isn't spending that half
an hour now what is that half an hour
honestly it's not much at all so rather
than taking the elevator try to take
stairs
you know simple things they'll make a
huge difference likewise following the
sunah of the Prophet sallallahu alai
wasallam when it comes to eating you
know making sure you're not eating to
your fill leaving onethird for food
oneir for water oneir for air times it
get does get difficult but it's is a
reminder for all of us myself included
that the Sunnah of the messenger of
Allah sallallahu alaihi wasallam is the
ultimate guide for Success so we need to
take care of our health number six our
finances
we are often told as Muslims that don't
be worried about money don't be
concerned about money this is true in
one way it is false in another way how
is it true or actually let's talk about
how is it false it is falls from the
perspective that we need money to
survive you know this conference it took
a lot of money to put together
educational institutes they take a lot
of money to put together so we do need
money now which angle is it true from
that this money it needs to stay in our
hands and it should never reach our
hearts who are our examples in this
think about the 10 companions who were
promised Paradise there's a particular
group of 10 companions they were
promised Paradise from those 10 three of
them ran all of the trade routes in the
Arabian Peninsula Abu
bakn afan and ABD rmann these three
companions they ran the trade Caravans
they were the richest of companions but
they kept the wealth in their hands and
never let it reach their hearts and
that's what we need to do earn as much
money as we possibly can but don't keep
it to spoil ourselves but spend it in
the way of Allah subhana wa ta'ala help
our communities help our people educate
people feed them take care of their
needs that's what we want to do with it
but that doesn't mean we shouldn't earn
money it just means when we earn money
we should spend it in the way of Allah
subh
the last part I'll talk about is our
families our families are of the utmost
importance and I've divided this into
two parts the first aspect of our family
is our parents and our
relatives Allah subhana wa tala has
created such big blessings in our
parents how big of a blessing are they
that the Middle Gate of Jenna is for
those people who are obedient to their
parents
how big of a blessing are our parents
that when our parents make Dua for us
Allah subhana wa ta'ala answers those
duas it's a directly accepted Dua so you
want to make sure you're keeping good
ties with your parents when you're young
you're heedless you're thinking about
your friends you're thinking about work
you're thinking about making money
you're thinking about doing other things
and you're not fulfilling the rights and
obligations and desires of your parents
but I'm telling you you will notice that
successful people for the most part they
have very good relationships with their
parents and that their duas their
success are a result of the duas of
their parents so make sure you keep good
ties with your parents another benefit
of keeping good ties with your family
members is that the messenger of Allah
sallahu alaihi wasallam told us that
nothing increases one's lifespan like
keeping good ties with your relatives so
make sure you give time to your family
your immediate family your parents your
brothers and sisters your aunts and your
uncles your cousins all of those people
you want to keep good ties with the
second aspect of families is marriage
that all of you are young yet I would
assume at least onethird of you are not
married yet so you're going to be
getting married
soon now this General concept that we
see in the western world is that we'll
fall in love and then we'll get married
and this is what happens in our
communities unfortunately as well but
you will see there is a growing trend of
divorce close to one3 of Muslim
marriages are ending in divorce why is
that happening the reason why that is
happening is because we're not educating
ourselves about marriage you know last
night alhamdulillah I had the
opportunity to sit with some uh brothers
and sisters from the University of
Malaya and we were talking about
marriage and I mentioned to them and you
know they brought this point to light
for me right now is that there are 10
conversations you need to have with your
future spouse that before you can
actually get married you need to see
that you're compa
in these 10 Fields they are your
religion they are the future they are
the past they are your health they are
your finances they are your kids they
are your families and three others in
fact if you go to my Facebook page right
now the first post is about the 10
conversations you want to have so check
it out at
facebook.com/ and you'll get all 10
points there now what I want to conclude
with is that these seven points uh these
seven categories you need to keep them
in Balance you need to keep them in
check and start thinking about them
start finding about them that scale of 1
to 10 think about what a 10 looks like
for you in each of these categories then
work out a checklist how do I get to
that point what are the things I need to
do to get to that
point I want to conclude with one last
point and that is a quote from a dear
Sheikh of mine and that is Sheikh
Optimus
Prime how many people have watched
Transformers here quite a few of you
okay Transformers so the very first
Transformers there's a scene at the end
of the movie and in the scene Optimist
Prime he's dealing with the humans he
says something so profound he says fate
rarely calls upon a people at a time of
their choosing fate rarely calls upon
the people at a time of their choosing
let's think about this for a second
right now you are in your Prime you
could enjoy life to the max you could go
out part you could go out clubbing you
could do a whole bunch of things but
later on in life you'll regret those
decisions that is a convenient route to
take the difficult route to take is to
discipline yourself think about these
seven categories in life and how you can
realize their true potential and that is
the opportunity that faith is calling
upon you that Allah has given you the
potential to become a leader he has
given you the potential to die a
righteous death he has given you the
potential to achieve a death like anashi
and this is what I'll conclude with
anashi was a Christian King who accepted
Islam but look at the way that he died
when he died it wasn't one of the
companions that went to the messenger of
Allah sallallahu alaih wasallam and said
that anashi has died that's not how it
happened but rather jiel came to the
prophet
Sall and he told him
that today a righteous man has passed
away the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam he turned around to his
companions and he
said that pray upon your brother for
indeed today a righteous man has passed
away think about this how did jiel find
out Nashi was righteous Allah told him
how did the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam find out Nashi was righteous
Allah subhana wa ta'ala and jiel told
the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
how about the companions that never met
Nashi they found out through Allah jel
and the messenger of Allah sallallahu
alaihi wasallam now the most beautiful
part about this his janaza is Prayed by
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
and it is the companions who are seeking
forgiveness for him when I think about
this Subhan Allah how many of us Envy
dead people generally speaking we would
never Envy the dead you know we want to
be alive we're still young but I tell
you my brother brothers and sisters
we're all living for one moment and that
is the moment of death and if we don't
contribute towards our civilizations and
our communities while we are alive we
will not be remembered our after our
death no one will seek forgiveness for
us our good deeds will not benefit us if
we do not prepare for them while we are
alive this is my last session this
conference and honestly I truly am sad
uh by this but I want to conclude by
asking Allah subhana wa ta'ala by
accepting from all of us and rectifying
our Affairs and that Allah subhana wa
tala grants us the to learn and to
memorize and most importantly to
implement all that we heard for his sake
and his sake alone and remember my dear
brothers and sisters the Dua the
messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi
wasallam used to make in ta he could
have made Dua for anything in ta but he
would say
that oh Allah grant us the best of this
world and the best of the Hereafter and
save us from the Hellfire so make your
lives peaceful make your peaceful and
make Dua that Allah saves us all from
the Hellfire
[Applause]
a
[Music]