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Ep: 14: Optimism Rooted in Reliance of Allah | Guidebook to God
Optimism is a very important value in the Qur’an and tradition of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Today’s content provides ways to maintain our optimism, even during difficult circumstances.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Optimism. To be optimistic. To see the world from a lens and a vantage point that is always seeking the rida, contentment with Allah because of the blessings that we have, even though there will always be challenges. SubhanAllah, our Nabi Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasalam was the person who had the greatest optimism. Out of all of the humanity, out of all of people, he is referred to as As'ad al-khalq. The one who was delighted with his optimism, who had comfort with his optimism, even though you know from his life story, his seerah and biography that he met many challenges. He buried with his own hands five of his children, grandchildren, uncles, and fathers, and loved ones. He was a person who grew up as an orphan and grew up with difficulty and poverty, sallallahu alayhi wasalam. But he was a person who always was resilient with his optimism in Allah. Optimism does not require a disconnect from the realities that we are experiencing. Now when I say to be optimistic, I don't want you to think it means that you just assume everything is going to get okay on its own. Optimism is to know that Allah is the one in charge. And optimism is very much an important part of a tawakkulu ala Allah, to have a reliance and a trust with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. The basis of optimism therefore is belief in Allah, belief in Allah's control, power, knowledge, preordainment, predestiny that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala lam yatrukna sudan wa hamala, did not put us on this earth without any guidance, that he left us in a state of chaos, that we do what we want when we want it, how we want it, and everybody has liberty over us. And if we don't do what we can do, then there is no hope into the future. In fact, optimism is a very important ideal in the Quran, an important tradition in the sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad salallahu alayhi wa sallam. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells
us wa la tahsabanna allaha ghaafilan, do not ever believe that Allah is unaware, that Allah has left us to our own devices without any assistance or connection to him. And that's the basis of the optimism of dua. One of the ways that you show you're optimistic is that you never give up on dua. You're always connected to Allah, asking Allah, begging of Allah, knowing Allah is the one who provides while working to achieve your dua. Dua is ineffective if you're not going to step forward to achieve it. And therefore, when we speak about optimism, there are three important encounters and it encompasses three important levels. Optimism within myself, in my heart, how I speak to myself, what are the things that I achieve, what are the things that are in my heart. Optimism in what I convey to others and how I deal with others. And third and finally, optimism in the moment of breakdown in my life, in the moment where life is most difficult. And each and every one of those three is very, very important in critical places that we take lessons from the sunnah. So in your heart, inside yourself, your natural dialogue, how you speak to yourself will either make you a person who will achieve success or make you a person who is brought to ruin. If you believe that you cannot, then you won't. If you've already said, I can't, then how can you? How will you ever achieve it? And if you're already pessimistic that something can be achieved, you will never gain it. It will never just drop in your lap. Life does not work that way. Life is built on you seeking to achieve what in your heart you have set as a niyyah, an intent of successful goal and purpose. And therefore, the dialogue that you have internally is one that becomes very important. And it's one where you must switch on. You and I must switch on within ourselves a mindset that says, I can and I will and I will achieve this moment of success, this purpose that I seek and this attitude that
I can do, whether I have failed or not, is referred to by psychologists today as a growth mindset. What does it mean a growth mindset? So I remember when I was learning to drive and I was 16 years old, ambitious, and I said, I, that's it. I'm going to get my license and I went and I did my driver's test and I failed. And I remember being upset. And the lady I remember she turned, I actually was my second time to fail. And my second time that I failed, I thought I did really well. And she turned to me and she said, I'm sorry, I must fail you, but you drove really well. I said, no, you don't really need to fail me. Why do you need to fail me? If I drove really well. She said, well, listen, you made this particular mistake and that's something that I must correct with you. So you have to fail. You have to redo it again. And she said, but you failing is you getting your license. And I said, what does that mean? She said, by you failing now, it will mean that you will be able to get your license because you've learned. And that's the growth mindset that if you take in your life, I failed. So that's where it stops. You'll never get your license. But if you failed because you're on the way to achieving something greater, it is just another step that gets you to the place of success. And that's how it is. That's how Allah leads us in life. SubhanAllah, I might have failed at waking up for a prayer or Fajr. You might have failed for waking up for Fajr. But that's not the end of my life. I still have Dhukr and I have the opportunity to pray Qada and tomorrow's another day and the sun will always rise. Even if it rises from the West, as the Prophet ﷺ says on the day of judgment, the sun will always rise. You always have another opportunity. And as long as you have opportunity and air in your chest, energy in your body, put your trust in Allah. Number two, be optimistic with others. Give other people hope. Give other people an opportunity to make up where they have broken down. Give other people an opportunity to assist them and to help them to help you to achieve your goals so that they can achieve
their goals. And being optimistic, therefore inclusive of other people's needs, becomes a sure way of you being optimistic. When you help someone realize something that they couldn't have achieved without you, it gives you great optimism that Allah will send someone to assist you in achieving that which you couldn't attain for yourself. And finally, to be optimistic when life is hard. When your glass is half empty and about to fall over and you just picked it up, look at that glass and it's not about whether it's half empty or half full, it's that you still have a glass and you still have something. You still have an opportunity when other people have been deprived. May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala make us from those who see the difficulties and tragedies in life as a return back to Him and as something that makes us say, Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'oon. We belong to Allah, to Allah we will return. That Allah is dominant in our power, in our force. That we seek His strength through our worship of Him. That we ask Him to be His slave so that He will ennoble us and that the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, Never is somebody humble before Allah except that they will be elevated. And that is the secret to humility and optimism in this life and in the next. Optimism is the root of your success in material and in spiritual gains with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. May Allah open our hearts with optimism, give us success and give us fear of Him Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala that leads us to delight in His worship and make us from those who fear our negligences and that it turns us into an optimism of our worship and faithfulness and practice of Him Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Wa Sallillahumma wa Sallim wa Zid wa Barik ala Sayyidina wa Nabiyina Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, your brother Yahya Ibrahim.
Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.
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