Transcription
I've helped hundreds of Muslim brothers from the early 20s to early 30s that have successful jobs, doctors, engineers, and they tell me the same thing. "Shehikh Abdullah, I'm doing well. I got the job, got the degree, but I feel like I'm on autopilot, like I'm just going through the motions without really thinking about what it is that I really want."
Deep down, they know they're just following someone else's path. They did what they were told to do, but now they want to take control and build their own path. This video is my honest advice to every young Muslim man out there. If you want to get off autopilot, live your true purpose, and build the life that you actually want, well, you're going to have to start thinking differently than the majority. Let's get started.
The first thing is really knowing their purpose. We repeat this constantly that your purpose of life is to recognize who your creator is and try your best to live up to those expectations that he set for you. Therefore, you set them for yourself in different ways based on the way he's created you. That's why the first thing I think is the first pillar of Islam. It's the oneness of Allah subhanana wa ta'ala. You know when I became Muslim, when any of us become Muslim from being a non-Muslim or those that may be born Muslim and they recognize the importance of the creator in their life, they take that shahada, which is "I bear witness that there is no one worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is his last messenger."
Why is this important? Because once you recognize that Allah is the creator of the heavens and the earth, you realize that he has given you a system and that system is Islam and his message is in the Quran and the life of the message, living that message is in the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. When you embrace that, and I do use the word embrace, meaning that you hold it tightly for you to know it in order to act on it with the reality that you're going to be deficient in it. This is the foundation. This is the seed. This is the purpose. So it's knowing Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, who he is primarily, and understanding what is the deen that he has brought, the legislation, the Sharia, the deen of Islam. What are the five pillars, which we're going to talk about? The first of them being the Shahada. Recognizing, witnessing, acknowledging, accepting, loving, honoring that testimony that there is no one worthy of worship except God, except the creator. And you live your life in accordance with that. That is the milestone of your life. That is what your purpose is about. Purpose, meaning reason. The reason you were put on this earth is to know God, recognize him, and live your life accordingly. That's why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the Quran, "I have not created the jin and men, the jin and spirits except jin and mankind except that they worship me." So worship is doing anything and everything that Allah is pleased with from the apparent and hidden actions. That is your purpose of life.
So when we look at the first pillar of Islam, it's recognizing this. And I want to say that if we were to go deeper into it, which is important for a man that's already went through studying and went through an aspect of life in his early 20s and particularly especially his early 30s, is that you have to take it upon yourself to learn your religion, particularly who Allah is and who he is not. Because when we talk about living your purpose, you hear this in a lot of different movements of masculinity nowadays. The guy says, "You know what? I opened a club because I want people to have a good time, to get off of stress when they get when they get off of work, to release their stress. And this is how I want to help people and help society through spirits and through liquor and through music." But Islam, Allah does not allow that. That's impermissible because because the liquor and that music is that which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala ultimately is not pleased with. This is not saying that there may be some benefit that people may understand in society, but again, you thinking with a mind of your own, and that mind, you know, the creator of that mind has a legislation for you and a system for you, trying your best to follow it and live your life accordingly. This is what we're referring to here. So learning the names and attributes of God, taking it in your car every day and then listening to Al-Aleem, Al-Jabbar, Muhammad, all of these particular names, what do they mean and how does it apply in my life? This is what is important. This is you learning about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So that's the first thing is Tawheed, the oneness of Allah. What does that mean and how do I live it in my life?
Also learning Iman. There are six pillars of Iman that we understand in Islam. And you could find all of this if you just type "Hadith of Jibril." The Hadith of Jibril. When Angel Gabriel came to the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam in the form of a man, and he asked him, from them is, "What is Islam?" He mentioned the five pillars. He asked him, "What is Iman?" He mentioned the six pillars. And he asked him, "What is Ihsan?" And Ihsan is recognizing the presence of Allah. "You worship God as though you see him, and though you do not see him, know that he sees you." This gives you that responsibility, accountability on a spiritual level at all times. So firstly, understanding your creator, the first pillar of Islam, Tawheed. Number two, prayer. Prayer. Prayer. Salah. As some would say that the Salah is a connection. It's a divine connection with your creator, with Allah, who you are getting to know better. Right from that first thing, from the first form of advice that we mentioned, the prayer is very, very important. Why this is important in the life of a man and in you discovering yourself on what you really want to do in life. You may be that physician. You may be an engineer. You may be the entrepreneur. You know, whatever you're doing in life, you have those endeavors. When you are consistent in detaching from people, places, and things, this keeps keeps you firm, keeps you strong, keeps you upright, keeps you morally grounded. Why? Because you voluntarily leave off these things in order to establish and maintain that connection with your Lord. That is one of the most commendable things. Can you imagine? Some of you have probably seen this when you were at work or when you were at school. Whether you saw a person that was consistent in their prayer to where they dropped everything and went to pray, or you were that person. And that non-Muslim or that Muslim that you know is has his challenges and kind of falls off, sees you, and you're a sign of that per you're a sign to that person that reminds him about Allah, that reminds him about prayer, that reminds him about that divine connection. So when you're trying to look find yourself and you're learning yourself, make no mistake, the prayer is going to be that rubric without a doubt. When you are in search of who you really are and what you really want to do more than your career, what you really want to do, you come closer to Allah by doing what he loves. By doing what he loves. This is very, very important. That consistency that you have in this, when you fall off and you get back up because you have an anchor, you have standards. And that is something that when you find what you want to do ultimately, when you stop following the crowd, and what's left is you and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, knowing that, but having a system of coming closer to him, one of the most important things, if not the most important, after recognizing his oneness, recognizing his greatness, is prayer five times a day. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the Quran that, "Verily, the the prayers upon the believers have been given at prescribed times." This teaches you discipline, teaches you consistency upon that which matters most. And this serves as a foundation for you being a better man, doing what you want to do in a way that's pleasing to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
The third is learning about Zakat. Zakat. Right now, this word, some of you don't even know what it is. Let's be honest. Some of you have heard it and that's it. You know that it's some financial dispensation that the Muslim is supposed to do. But are you someone that is qualified to do it? Are you eligible to take Zakat? Are you eligible to where you have to pay Zakat? Right? This is important for you. Why? Because this is a foundation of understanding money management. And dare we even say understanding the function of money. When you understand that money is a tool, is a tool to do things on a societal level, you see how, subhan Allah, what you can contribute to the earth from what Allah has given you. So if you're a physician, if you're an engineer, if you're an entrepreneur, if you're someone that works and you have a capacity, you've done what you're supposed to do, you know, with your career financially, understanding the wisdom behind Zakat of financial empowerment is very, very important because even though you may have all this money from what you've obtained and attained, how will you use it in a way that benefits yourself and benefits others? Are you going to use that money to go to a community center? You buy, for example, you buy 20 Chromebooks, 20 iPads, and then you teach them basics of making an app to youth that would never get that opportunity, right? This is where you're finding, okay, I'm contributing to society in this way. Zakat serves as that contribution. And the reason I say Zakat again is for you to learn this pillar of Islam and the benefits from this pillar in a way that you can use it in a way that makes you a better man, further allowing you to discover yourself and what particularly you like to do to contribute to society, to help make it a better place, to where you can hand out the fishing pole and teach people how to fish, which is the objective of Zakat. The recipient of Zakat, the goal of that is for them not to be a recipient the next year. That whatever they're given, they use to help take care of their needs, but eventually be able to facilitate themselves from what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given them. So again, learning Zakat, understanding the functionalities of it, understanding that money is not only the dollar bill, for example, understanding the barter system. This is important for money management, money dispensation, to where you look at yourself and you ask, "How am I spending my money?" And more importantly, or an extension of that is, "How am I helping society in a way that I want to help society, not just doing what everybody else is doing or what they expect me to do, in a way that pleases Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala?"
Number four, fasting. I think by now you can tell that I'm mentioning the five pillars of Islam. Um, fasting is so important, especially for men nowadays, especially for those that have realized that, okay, I've done what I needed to do. Everyone's happy with me, but I still don't feel fulfilled. I still don't feel happy. Or I feel happy at times, but I don't go to sleep at night feeling that I've really, really done what I wanted to do and that I found meaning. Right? As we talked about before, there's purpose and there's meaning. Meaning is doing something that you feel a level of fulfillment in when you do it, right? And that meaning is that which under the over under the overarching purpose, it can be worship. Right? So when looking at fasting, fasting helps you in that regard because it's the voluntary deprivation for spiritual conditioning. Right? You're touch you're you're you're bringing yourself to a level of physical suffering, and I'm using this word intentionally because you have a higher vision, you're looking beyond that. Rather, you know that that is a condition for your strength, your strength in that connection with Allah in prayer. When it's the middle of the day and it's hot and you're fasting, but you go to pray and you feel that suffering, you know that it could be much worse. You think of people in different parts around the world that are not eating, that are that are starving involuntarily. But you have the option and you stay away from it for a greater cause to focus, to connect, to deprive yourself of even strength because it reminds you that there is. And it strengthens the mind because you, in a weak state, when you can control about control what you're thinking, what you're lusting for, the desires, by not acting upon it, doing it because Allah loves it, that's a much loftier reason and it's much, much more commendable. So this detachment again from food, drinking, and intimacy is so strong of a means for a man that wants to be independent in his thinking and that wants to be autonomous in how he moves in this world, that he doesn't rely on people's validation. Rather, when people see him, they see that he is a person that thinks by himself and has his own mind. Without a doubt, fasting helps in that regard because it reminds you of what really matters. This is one of the good characteristics of people that are, you know, minimalists. That within Islam, we have remnants of this as well. Fasting is a sign of kind of detaching and pruning out that which really doesn't matter. When you do this, fasting makes you stronger in the mind, stronger in the body eventually, and without a doubt spiritually, if your intention is correct and you're focused, makes you much stronger spiritually as well.
After fasting, you know, when we talked about it for that internal, that introspection, uh, for conditioning of the mind, body, and soul, we want to end with the last pillar, which is Hajj. Now, Hajj was huge for me because when I made Hajj, for example, when I was young, I got lost. I was in my early 20s. I got lost in the desert in Mina, in the encampment, and uh, for hours in the middle of the day. And thoughts started coming to my mind like, "Am I going to make it back to America? Yeah, I know all these people around me, but I don't know any of them. So, how will I make it back to America?" Eventually, I found my tent. You know, my feet were burning, and it was a great experience seeing different brother brothers from around the world, seeing the cere, you know, performing the ceremonial practices that the prophets did. It made me realize firstly how fortunate, how fortunate I was and I am being that Allah has given me the opportunity to go thousands, thousands of miles away to come and worship him. I mean, at that time, I just got my position at the hospital, and subhan Allah, you know, I was able to go. That was from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. People thought I wasn't going to be able to go. I was just two weeks into working, but Allah facilitated it for me. Seeing all of this, being around brothers, some of them were suffering, it was very difficult for them, especially in an area called Muzdalifah, which is just like a plane, you know, just a big parking lot right with rocks, and we're all in, um, I almost got left in Arafat, you know. When a when a young man in your 20s and 30s go through this experience with severe discomfort for a greater cause, again, this has so many benefits for you to focus. When you're away from the people that you know, your way in the your way in Saudi Arabia, it gives you clarity. You get to just clear your mind, worship Allah, and think. This is, this is what many of you men now need. Now is to clear the clutter and think. Hajj, traveling to the other side of the world, worshiping Allah, and fulfilling a pillar of Islam. This is, this is major. You have to remember that the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said that, "If Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala uh wants something for a servant, you know, if he loves a servant, he will test him, right? And there has not been an action that he loves except that it'll bring him closer to him, right?" So when Allah makes something obligatory, know for a fact that he loves this action. When you struggle to do it, it is something that will make you bring you closer to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And in turn, give you a realization that you never would have had. When you're in Ihram and you're making dua to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, when you're alone in certain times, in this time of Hajj, it is a huge opportunity for you to think about your life, to think about who am I really, and the answers will come, subhan Allah, on your flight back. As a Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, when he said, "The one that makes as," the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said, "The individual that makes Hajj does not have vain speech, nor do they do any type of illicit action, then they will come back as a newborn baby." Which allows you to focus. It's a motivation for you.
So this is important for you guys in your 20s and 30s when you want to think about what I want to do in life. I use the five pillars really to bring talim to the five pillars, to magnify these five pillars, and how they really translate to every aspect of our life. And in this particular subject matter of you finding yourself in something you want to do, primarily that which is pleasing to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, how you want to give back to society, how you want to give back to the youth, give back to yourself in a way that could really help others. I think starting here is foundational. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make it easy upon us and may Allah Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give us insight in every single one of these five that can trickle down in ways that we never would imagine for us to walk this earth bold, honorable, confident for the sake of Allah.