Thinking about the afterlife, I remember one of my friends, she asked me this question and she was like, don't you think, you know, inshallah, one day we get to Jannah, you're going to be tired of, you know, getting every single thing that you want. I was like, that's so interesting. So one of the reasons why we can't see our own blessings is often because we're so focused on what we think are other people's blessings. So especially in the social media world, you see everyone else's best side and you only see your worst side. Everyone else's life seems amazing and they're putting on a show and all you see are your own hardships. Only their blessings, only your hardships. Like imagine if they had social media back then, right? And Ismail alayhis salam is seeing what's going on with Ishaq alayhis salam. You know, this whole civilization is developing in Palestine and here I am in a barren desert, you know. But subhanallah, there's something beautiful about Ismail alayhis salam and the Hounds of alayhis salam. Honestly, when it comes to them about losing hope in what other people possess or not being connected to what other people possess, is Hajar ever jealous of Sara? You don't see it. You don't see Hajar being jealous of Sara. You don't see Hajar saying, you know, I could have been over there and living this life of glamour and having, you know, this lineage of prophethood developing in front of my
eyes and civilization. She's pleased with what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has decreed for her. And Allah tells us about Ismail alayhis salam. He was truthful to his promise. He was, you know, he was teaching his family, this small group of people, tribe of Jorhum in the desert, teaching them prayer and charity, truthful to his promise with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. At no point, ya Allah, how come I can't be like Ishaq and Yaqub and all of those? And look what Allah gifted him with. SubhanAllah, coolness of his eyes. You get to have Muhammad salallahu alayhi wa sallam from your eventual offspring. Right? So you see the, I always look at those, those charts of the prophets, right? So you see Ishaq alayhis salam, Yaqub alayhis salam, and the children of Yaqub alayhis salam, and the lineages and the lineages and the lineage. And then you got Ismail alayhis salam, this long line that goes to Muhammad salallahu alayhi wa sallam, khayru khalq, the best of Allah's creation. But really, I mean, just the idea of how they embraced their role. And sometimes you have to lose hope in what other people possess or what you think other people possess. Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam said, Ajma' al ya'sami ma fi aydinas. Lose hope in what other people possess. Because you might have something and then you see what someone else has and then suddenly what you have is insufficient. You know? Whereas if it was just you, if you didn't know even that that blessing exists, you'd be satisfied. But because you've seen their house, because you've seen their car, because you've seen their spouse, because you've seen their life, because you've seen all that they're putting forth, suddenly everything is insufficient for you. And you're constantly after what someone else has. And especially when it comes to the matters of this dunya, the matters of this world. You know, one of the sayings from Atta'a rahim Allah,
la yusha'ah ahl al dunya fi dunya'hum. Don't compete with the people of dunya over their dunya. Don't compete with the people of this world over their world. And so it's recalibrating as we talked about previously, but it's also reactivating, right? Towards that pursuit that you really should have. Pursuing the akhira' without hating people or envying people or seeing your blessings as very little because you think you're seeing someone else's blessings as a lot. What do you say to someone who is, you know, you're advising someone who's, you know, thinks that your life is amazing or your life is great. Have you ever sat with someone and they thought you were doing well and you were going through something as well and they're complaining to you about life and it's like, hey, you just don't know what I'm going through. Every one of you nodded your head. You know, it's like, you know, just because I'm not telling you what I'm going through doesn't mean that I'm not going through something, right? But, you know, is there a moment maybe you can share something anonymous where like you, you know, you either realized a blessing that you had or someone who you thought had it all and they didn't have it all, right? The blessing was, wow, like somehow or other actually going through a lot of hardship or someone who didn't appreciate your hardship. I think like this day and age of the news and social media, all these, you know, people we think are well off and then you realize so, you know, they end up in jail, in prison, or they were doing really illegal or, you know, how miserable their lives are, you know, substance abuse, you know, in and out of rehab. And again, it's what you mentioned, social media, we see people portray this lifestyle, but the reality is, you know, it's probably,
most of the time it's different. You know, everybody goes through hardships. Everybody has test difficulties. And unfortunately, we, and if once you realize that, you know, whatever you have, Alhamdulillah, you know, this is what you have. I don't care what somebody else has. You know, this is what Allah has blessed me with, you know, I'll be content with it and just, you know, do the best that I can with it. But as far as comparing a lifestyle with other people, or, you know, it's just, it's never ending. You know, something so unique about Islam is that we're taught to think about death often, and it's not in a way for it to scare you or to make you feel sad, but it's just to remember that at the end of the day, there's another life, and we're all going to be buried the same, whether you're Muslim, non-Muslim, rich, poor, you know, whatever it is, we're all going to be buried the same. And thinking about the afterlife, I remember one of my friends, she asked me this question, and she was like, don't you think, you know, inshallah, one day we get to Jannah, you're going to be tired of, you know, getting every single thing that you want? I was like, that's so interesting. And I thought about it, and I was like, that's the beauty of, you know, expecting and working for the hereafter, that ability of jealousy, or that ability of laziness, they don't exist, because you've already gone through the test of this dunya, to experience, you know, the riches and the beauty of the hereafter. Two things that you mentioned there that are very important and often not brought into the discussion. When the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, remember frequently, hadi wa ladhat, the destroyer of pleasures. It's not just the destroyer of your blessings,
it's the fact that that person that you're looking at, who has billions and billions and billions of dollars, millions, and glamour, subhanAllah, when they die, not a single penny can be accessed. And you think about that, like not a single penny can be accessed, not a single phone call can be made. It's like, wait a minute, I don't care what you build on their grave, we're in the same situation, we're in the same boat. And the one amongst us who is greater, is the one who has a greater share in the hereafter. So the redirecting of pursuits, Allah knows we have a competitive nature inside of us. Allah says, compete over that. Say in the blessing of Allah, the bounty of Allah and His mercy, let them find joy in that. Meaning, instead of these worldly blessings you have, find joy in that. But then when it comes to competition, don't stop competing, compete over the right things and in the right ways. Allah says, compete over that. When you compete over that which is righteous, then you only compete in righteous ways too. You're competing for what is a righteous reward and competing in righteous ways. So competing with your brothers and sisters, you're trying to get ahead with them. You find joy when they get ahead and you want to get ahead too. So you compete for good deeds and you love them. The way Musa alayhis salam, you know the prophets are the greatest example of this. Musa alayhis salam saw the ummah of the prophet Muhammad alayhis salam and was like, SubhanAllah, this is things I wish I could have had. But then he gives them advice on how to grow this ummah, right? Because let's be real, 50 prayers a day, are you still becoming Muslim with 50 prayers a day? InshaAllah, yes. InshaAllah, yes. I would have been like, hey, how do we break these up? But definitely. Yeah, yeah. So I mean, how do we... See that was the right response right there.
That was the right response. But the fact that Musa alayhis salam still gives him advice, the prophet alayhis salam advice, and tries to make things easier for us, right? And we have that way forward. When Ibrahim alayhis salam sees the prophet alayhis salam and sees his ummah, he's proud. Gives salam to the ummah. Says, Ya Muhammad alayhis salam, give salam to your ummah. And then he gives us some ways to get ahead. Here's some seeds you can plant for Jannah. SubhanAllah, alhamdulillah, la ilaha illallah, Allahu Akbar. Ibrahim alayhis salam told the prophet alayhis salam, give us salam and tell us, plant some seeds for yourselves in paradise. That's what you should be doing right now. So it's like, compete, but compete over the right things. And so that's one element that you bring in of hadi waladha, the destroyer of pleasures, that a person's not going to have any of this when they die. We're all going to be in the same boat. And the second element of this is when it comes to paradise and that competition over paradise, that's an open competition and it's for the taking. And the beauty of it when we get into paradise, may Allah make us from the people of Jannah, may Allah make us from al-firdaws al-a'la, the highest level. We don't have hard feelings towards each other. That's one. Number two, no matter what level you're in, you think you're in the highest level. You don't think, you don't see people above you having more than you because that would grieve you. Which is one of the blessings of paradise, right? Because if you're in paradise and thinking you're left out and deprived, then it's not really Jannah for you, right? So subhanAllah, these redirects. Allah does not crush our nature. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala redirects it to its most perfect potential. And that's what this pursuit becomes. So Sister Sara, someone says, look, I know I should be pleased with what I have and I know I should be thinking well of what other people have, but I can't shake this jealousy and envy
that I have. I can't stop comparing myself to other people. What do I do? Jealousy is one of those natural human emotions, but it's one of the ones that we feel most judged for and we judge ourselves most for. And it is one of the ones that can be most detrimental to us. It can really lead to a sense of dissatisfaction and it's just a very hard feeling to experience. And one of the reasons why it's so important to work on that feeling of jealousy and try to really combat it is because in essence, when we're jealous and we have this idea of why did Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless her or him with that and not me? It can inevitably lead to some doubts. It can lead to us questioning Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's decree, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's wisdom when we're thinking that should have been me. But we don't know better than Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. If Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala chose that person for that blessing, then that means that that was, that's the decree of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and there's some good in that, whether that's their test, whether that's, you know, there's some sort of good in it for them and there's some sort of good in it for us that we were not blessed with it. And when we can embrace that, it really helps to alleviate any of those doubts or negative feelings that we might have toward Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And so how can we take that step to really combat that feeling of jealousy? I think one of the most helpful things is to create a mindset shift that instead of looking at a blessing that somebody has and think why them and not me, instead view it as an indication that if Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave it to them, then there's always the possibility that he can give it to me too. And making da'at for that person and you know that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala increases them in whatever good there is in that for them and that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives you that as well.
So that it's not or, but it's and. It's natural for us to want things that we don't have. The Rasul sallallahu alaihi wasallam describes it beautifully where he says that, you know, if the son of Adam were to be given a valley filled with gold, he would want to, you know, and we all want that. We all, and that's actually a quality that can be beautiful, is that you're always striving for better. You're always striving for good. So how do we channel that quality into our lives? You know, we're always striving for good. So how do we channel that quality to gain good in this life? Is you look at your circumstance and you think to yourself, okay, I'm in this boat. How do I make the most of it? And if I am dissatisfied, is there something that I can change? Is there something that I can take control of in this moment to yield something positive? Is there something that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la has given me that I can do to create a change in my circumstances? And then also, I think one of the things that's really important is to look at the blessings that you do have. A lot of times we're always looking at the blessings that other people have, which causes us to ignore the blessings that we do have. And that's where jealousy can come into the mix and be really detrimental. So shifting our focus in terms of that can also be really powerful. So go ahead and give a shout out below to someone that you know who has been doing great work for the community, but often goes unrecognized. And make sure that you put a du'a for them as well. JazakAllah Khayran.