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Talk · al-Sirat al-Mustaqeem | 2024 Ramadan Series, part 21 of 32

The Source Of Negativity | Al-Sirat Al-Mustaqeem EP.19 | A Journey With Shaykh Alauddin ElBakri

Shaykh Alauddin ElBakri

Transcript

  1. Assalaamu 'Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi
  2. and welcome back to "As-Sirat al-Mustaqim" Ramadan series
  3. Yesterday, we covered the introduction in the Quran
  4. to this world, how Allah wants us to see it and understand it,
  5. and the seven different ways that this world can be a blessed place,
  6. when a believer activates these seven different ways.
  7. Now, today, Insha'Allah, we will continue with
  8. the seven ways a person can make this world a cursed place,
  9. a negative place, a place of destruction
  10. and pain and suffering. May Allah SWT
  11. open our eyes to the truth and guide our intentions, words and actions.
  12. Ameen
  13. Now, there are the other seven ways that if you perceive this Dunyah, this world
  14. in this way, you make this world
  15. a negative place for yourself and for the people around you.
  16. Number one, when you perceive that this world is the beginning
  17. and the end, the reward, it is the purpose.
  18. It is the goal.
  19. As I said again and again and again,
  20. you will become a very dangerous person
  21. because you will do whatever it takes to get whatever you want.
  22. The second way you can look in this world and turn it negative,
  23. is what Allah said in the Quran, that the human falls in love
  24. with having the desire
  25. to own something or to just spend this world
  26. in the physical pleasure. Subhanallah,
  27. two things about the human, which are eating and mating,
  28. that we share with the animal kingdom.
  29. But we are not animals.
  30. We have been honored.
  31. We have a mind.
  32. We are higher, we are above.
  33. We are for a purpose.
  34. So Allah SWT warns us,
  35. and this is a very interesting point mentioned in the Quran:
  36. (The enjoyment of ˹worldly˺ desires)
  37. That people fall in love
  38. with the idea of having a lot of wealth,
  39. with the idea of having, you know, so many things.
  40. But if you ask these people right now, whatever you're imagining:
  41. Do you need it? They will say "No"
  42. Do you have enough for you right now?
  43. They'll say: "Yes" but then they fall in love with the idea of having that.
  44. Not actually that they are in love
  45. with the thing itself, but they're falling in love with the idea,
  46. which is a very interesting psychological explanation in the Quran.
  47. The third reason why a person could turn this world into a negative place
  48. is when you love
  49. the people in this world that only love this world.
  50. So you just want to be with the people
  51. who only talk about wealth, money, desire, pleasure.
  52. Where's the next place to eat?
  53. What's the next thing to do?
  54. And obviously you can only do that if you have a lot of money.
  55. If you don't have money, you can't even dream about these things.
  56. And you go and spend an obscene amount of money
  57. that that money could have saved the child somewhere in the world from death.
  58. And that's why we say that in this world, if you fall in love
  59. with the people who only care about this world,
  60. not the love of Allah SWT, it
  61. will make this world a negative place for you to live in.
  62. The fourth and fifth ways that you turn this world into a negative place
  63. is when you love this world itself more than you love Allah,
  64. and when you love this world and prefer it over the next life.
  65. What did Allah say in the Quran?
  66. (But you ˹deniers only˺ prefer the life of this world,
  67. even though the Hereafter is far better and more lasting)
  68. and Allah said to His Messenger:
  69. (And the next life is certainly far better for you than this one)
  70. Allah said to the Prophet Muhammad PBUH the hereafter is better than this one.
  71. And in the earlier Ayahs I mentioned, Allah said
  72. you always preferred this world, when the hereafter is better
  73. and long lasting.
  74. This world is short and temporary.
  75. When we start thinking like that,
  76. we turn this world into a negative place
  77. and into a place of disbelief and aggression and oppression.
  78. The sixth way that you turn this world into a negative place
  79. is when you have long hopes.
  80. It's narrated that the Prophet PBUH
  81. took a branch of a tree and drew on the sand a square,
  82. and then he drew a line that went from inside the square,
  83. touched the other side of the square and kept on going.
  84. And then the Prophet PBUH said,
  85. the Companions were baffled by what's going on.
  86. He said: "Do you know what this is? "They said: "Please teach us Prophet"
  87. He said: "This is the birth of the human,
  88. and the other side of the square is the death of the human,
  89. and the line that crosses the death is the hopes of the human"
  90. You have long the hopes and long plans.
  91. You get busy with these hopes and plans
  92. and you forget to actually plan
  93. for the long journey that is coming
  94. ahead of you, your life in the grave,
  95. your life on the Day of Judgment, and your life in Jannah "heaven"
  96. Insha'Allah Rabb Alameen
  97. That is what we should be focusing on.
  98. And most human beings don't do that.
  99. But here is the month of Ramadan awakening us to the reality of this world
  100. and making us realize what it's all about.
  101. The seventh and last way that you turn this world into a negative
  102. place, is when you think of it
  103. as the place of reward and the final destination,
  104. not the place of hard work
  105. trials, tribulations and tests.
  106. If you do that, number one, life will disappoint you
  107. and you will live angry, grumpy,
  108. disappointed, always negative, because this world is not giving you
  109. what you want it to give you, and it will never be able to give you that.
  110. So let's turn this Hayat Ad-Dunyah, this world
  111. that Allah gave us to the best place.
  112. And let's realize that everything
  113. that is coming next, all depends on what we do here.
  114. Let's focus on that, and May Allah accept all of our acts of worship in Ramadan.
  115. Ameen Ya Rabb Alameen

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The Source Of Negativity | Al-Sirat Al-Mustaqeem EP.19 | A Journey With Shaykh Alauddin ElBakri · Tawasaw Institute