# How to Break Free from Anxiety | Midnight Majlis | Dr. Omar Suleiman and Sh. Yaser Birjas

**Author:** Dr. Omar Suleiman
**Series:** Midnight Majlis
**Published:** 2025-03-21
**YouTube:** https://youtu.be/ZQqkmaTYcG8
**URL:** https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/midnight-majlis/how-to-break-free-from-anxiety-midnight-majlis
**Topics:** Acts of Worship, Sharia

## Description
FOMO keeps us chasing, comparing, and feeling like we’re always behind. But what are we actually afraid of missing? In the first session of this year’s Midnight Majlis, Dr. Omar Suleiman and Sh. Yaser Birjas unpack Ibn Hazm’s reflections on anxiety, comparison, and why setting higher aspirations...

## Transcript
**[0:00]** As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. Wa alaykum as-salam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen. Sallallahu wa sallam wa barak a'ala nabiyyina Muhammadin wa a'ala aalihi wa sahbihi wa sallam wa tasliman kathira thumma ma ba'd. I want to welcome you all back again to those beautiful last ten nights of the month of Ramadan.

**[0:15]** May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make it a blessed gathering, ya rabbil alameen. We ask Allah to grant us in this evening Laylatul Qadr, ya Allah. And give us the full reward for Laylatul Qadr. Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen, we're back. These are late night khatirat from Valley Ranch Islamic Center with Shaykh Omar Suleiman, habibullah ta'ala.

**[0:32]** Every year we study one book from classical works of our esteemed ulama of the past. Who really have so much ilm and wisdom that we benefit from throughout the ages until even this time, until even the end of time. So every year we try to introduce one book to you and we introduce one author.

**[0:51]** This year, alhamdulillah, one beautiful book we have with an amazing author, al-Imam Ibn Hazm, rahimahullah, al-Andalusi. Imam Ibn Hazm, rahimahullah, he grew up in the elitist community of Andalus in the Umayyad era.

**[1:09]** His father used to be a minister in the palace in Cordoba for some time until the Umayyads were overthrown. And eventually he went to exile. And then he went back again for a short period of time to himself become the minister in the royal palace as well too.

**[1:28]** Back and forth until kind of like politically he just gave up on it and he dedicated himself to ilm and knowledge. So he became an encyclopedia of knowledge. He even challenged the status quo of his time in terms of ilm and theology and law and everything. And he wrote books, challenged everybody.

**[1:45]** As well, of course, he eventually gained a lot of hostility because of that. Subhanallah, all the people who opposed him, we don't hear much about them anymore. But his knowledge and his ilm and his books and his name is still until the Day of Judgment.

**[2:00]** And one of those beautiful books is this one known in the Arabic language in different titles, al-akhlaq wa al-siyar, manners and behaviors, as well as mudawat al-nufus, which means healing of the souls, treatment of the souls from its lowly qualities and so on.

**[2:15]** And this book is very unique because Imam Ibn Hazm, rahimahullah, he claims that he summarized his experience in learning and in knowledge. And specifically when it comes to human psychology. It's an amazing book on human psychology that I would like to introduce to you, inshallah wa ta'ala.

**[2:32]** So this is basically Imam Ibn Hazm, rahimahullah, who died in the year 465 Hijri, the equivalent of 1064, the Christian era. So you're talking about a thousand years ago, Shaykh.

**[2:47]** And we're still benefiting from his book, rahimahullah alayhi. Subhanallah, there's so much to say about Ibn Hazm, rahimahullah. He's very different from Ibn al-Qayyim, rahimahullah, from Ibn al-Jawzi, rahimahullah ta'ala, from al-Hafidh Ibn Rajab, rahimahullah. Many of the scholars that we covered in multiple ways.

**[3:05]** Ibn Hazm, rahimahullah, he actually comes from a lineage of converts to Islam. So he's Andalusian in the full sense. He writes from a very jaded perspective. Like it's actually remarkable how you can see the emotion.

**[3:20]** He came from, as you said, elite circles. And he's one of those palace to prison stories. And in the process of that palace to prison story, he saw a lot of cowardice. He saw a lot of betrayal. He saw a lot of deceit. He saw the corruption of the political class.

**[3:36]** He saw the corruption of the religious class. And he kind of hated everybody. Like, I mean, really, when you read his journey, he got to a point where he was like, everyone turned out to be a coward and got really angry and jaded. And my father-in-law used to always cite him. Subhanallah, he used to say, you know, like, when we look at people that started their journey of ilm,

**[3:54]** usually when you talk about Imam Hanifa, rahimahullah, Imam al-Shafi'i, rahimahullah, and so on, you're talking about people that usually started very young. Like he started at 40 years old. Like the journey of becoming a scholar, like a true scholar. Like his trajectory of ilm was late.

**[4:11]** And it came from a place of, you know, I need to figure this out on my own because whatever exists right now in the ecosystem is not it. And then he goes on to write 400 books. He wrote al-Muhalla, which is his most famous book. It's a controversial, like he has a very controversial fiqh disposition.

**[4:27]** His fiqh is very literalist. His jurisprudence is very literalist. But he's a scholar of law, philosophy. I mean, you read the man, you're reading a psychiatrist. Like his books read like a psychiatrist. It's unbelievable, mashallah. But he's just very, he challenges everybody.

**[4:46]** So he challenges all the madhahib. Right? So he's from, he's the champion of the Zahiri school. He's a literalist. So no ra'y, no qiyas, no istihsan. None of the methods. It's Quran and sunnah. You've got to show me the nass, you've got to show me the text. Or else I'm not bound by anybody's scholarly authority.

**[5:02]** He debates the scholars of his time. And of course the Andalusian period was a strong Maliki, you know, thought. And that's why, like Imam Qurtubi, the great Andalusian scholar, is a strong Maliki scholar.

**[5:18]** So he just, he goes at it with everybody. And he was criticized for that. He was criticized, Imam al-Dhahabi, rahimahullah, who was always very balanced in how he analyzes people. Like he had a really strong pen, but he had a strong tongue. And our tradition has a way of embracing.

**[5:34]** But Imam al-Dhahabi still, he actually said, I loved Imam Abu Muhammad, but he has a very sharp tongue. So he's like, he could have been a little bit easier on people with his tongue. But that's what I actually love is that our deen embraced imperfect scholars. It embraced these, like if he was just rejected and cast out, and his ilm made useless, because he was an outsider.

**[5:57]** And some of his opinions seem very wrong. Like some of them even seem downright bizarre in fiqh. But we love him, we honor him, and we still, especially when it comes to these works, like you can see the barakah, the blessing that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala put in his work. And it's no doubt, I mean, he just comes off as a very sincere person.

**[6:15]** Because he even exposes his own flaws when he's writing. He talks about his own personal flaws in this book, right? Like, yeah, I did this, and I go through this, and I struggle with this, and this is how I've been working on it. Just a very beautiful, sincere writer. And I really, this work, I love this book so much.

**[6:33]** It's not long, but it's deep, deep, deep, deep. So I'm really looking forward to, inshallah, these 10 nights with the night's eye going through. When I was introduced to Ibn Hazm, may Allah have mercy on him, at a very young age, I loved reading his books.

**[6:48]** And especially this one, and his book, Tawq al-Hamamah, The Ring of the Dove, which is a treatise on love. And historically speaking, his theories on love were the main source for the Romantic era in Europe at that time.

**[7:04]** Because people used to go to Spain and learn from it, and come back again to Europe. So their ideas about love and romance and sin come from his book, Tawq al-Hamamah, The Ring of the Dove, which is also translated to English language, by the way. So that's an amazing thing. Ibn Hazm, may Allah have mercy on him, to understand the depth of his knowledge,

**[7:23]** that they burned his books publicly. This is how much hate they had for him, and how much dangerous they thought his ideas and his work was for the society. Because, again, he was against everybody, also, you could say. Because he didn't like what was going on there.

**[7:39]** So they burned his books, and when he was told, what are you going to do now? He goes, don't worry. If they burn the papers, the knowledge is still in my heart. I will do it again. And he did. He rewrote the books again. He rewrote the books again, and now we have all his legacy still today,

**[7:56]** and those who burned the books are gone. Subhanallah. Yeah. Determined is like an understatement when you do his biography, for sure. So this book, which is also translated into English language, under the title Morals and Behaviors, Kitab al-Akhlaq wa al-Siyar, for those who would like to follow, actually, the book as well.

**[8:14]** It's really, it's one of those early books on well-organized structures, you could say, semi-structured, I would say, on human psychology. Now, you're going to be surprised, because some theories, some theories that we know today as considered modern theories in human psychology,

**[8:31]** even Ibn Hazm was talking about them over here. And we're going to see that tonight as well, inshallah. He also, in his book, he, again, it's like a memoir. He speaks about his personal life, my own flaws, I admit myself to these things. So it's self-critique as well. And that's one of the principles of really kind of like healing.

**[8:48]** You have to admit to yourself your faults so you can recognize how you can fix it, and so on. So many beautiful things. And we're going to see also, he gives us a window at some of the sociological aspects of his time in society. We're going to share that, inshallah, with you as well, bismillah wa ta'ala.

**[9:03]** The book is amazing. I can't really say enough about how beautiful it is, especially in its original Arabic language. Translation, it brings it as close as possible, but nothing like the original work of Ibn Hazm.

**[9:18]** And that's why we'll read it in Arabic, inshallah, and we'll give an explanation. Shall we begin, inshallah wa ta'ala? Bismillah. Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim. Qala rahimahu Allah. Ladhatu al-aqil bi-tamyeezihi, wa ladhatu al-alim bi-ilmihi, wa ladhatu al-hakim bi-hikmatihi,

**[9:33]** wa ladhatu al-mujtahid bi-llahi ta'ala bi-ijtihadihi, a'adham min ladhatu al-aakil bi-aklihi, wa al-sharib bi-shurbihi, wa al-waati' bi-wat'ihi, wa al-kasib bi-kasbihi, wa al-la'ib bi-la'ibihi, wa al-aamir bi-amrihi. He says that the pleasure of a rational person in his ability to discern,

**[9:52]** the pleasure of the scholar in his knowledge, the pleasure of the wise person in their wisdom, and the pleasure of the one who strives for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in their striving, their pleasures are far greater, what they're finding in ladhah, in pleasure, is far greater than the pleasure of one who eats in his food,

**[10:09]** and the one who drinks in what they're drinking, or the one who engages in intimacy, or the one who earns wealth in their game, or the one who plays in their play, or the one who commands in their authority. And he says that the proof of that, he says,

**[10:25]** wa burhanu dhalik anna al-hakim, wa al-aalim, wa al-aaqil, wa al-aamir. He said the proof of that is that these people, the wise person, the scholar, the one who is a worker towards good, the one who is seeking Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the rational person,

**[10:40]** he says that they have found, wa wajiduna li-sa'ir al-ladhdhaat allati samayna kama yajiduha al-munhamiku feeha. They have access to the same desires that these people have. Like they can enjoy food, they can enjoy intimacy, they can enjoy authority,

**[10:56]** they can enjoy all of these things. wa yahissuha kama yahissuha al-muqbil alayha. wa qad tarakuha wa a'radu anha wa aatharu talaba al-fadha'il alayha wa innama yahkumu fi shay'ayni man arafahuma la man arafa ahadahuma wa lam ya'rif al-aakhar.

**[11:13]** He said that the difference between the two is, he said the only one that can know the difference between the two sets of pleasure, so basically you have the pleasure of higher aspirations. And this is actually sort of setting the theme for why we chose this book in the first place, by the way. Shaykh Yasir and I said we want something about uluw al-himmah,

**[11:30]** pursuing higher aspirations. He says that people that pursue knowledge, people that pursue worship, people that pursue these great things, they have access to that other set of pleasures, and their pleasures are far more superior, and he says the proof of that is that

**[11:45]** they have access to all those same things as well, and you don't know the value of two things unless you have engaged in both of them. And so you can't claim to know one set of pleasures, and not the other, unless you've engaged in both of them.

**[12:00]** And so what he's saying is that these people, the scholars, the wise men, the rational, the workers, they know exactly what it's like to pursue these lower things, these lower desires, yet they chose to overcome them, but those who are buried in their lower desires

**[12:17]** have no idea the joy that exists in knowledge, the joy that exists in worship, the joy that exists in everything that we do, seeking Allah's pleasure and seeking our higher aspirations. So Shaykh, when it comes to the subject of knowledge, the beautiful thing here, he says that, look,

**[12:32]** those scholars, those wise people, they left these desires by choice, but those who are engaged in these lowly desires of this dunya, they have no access to the higher aspiration because they completely killed it for themselves.

**[12:47]** Like they have no aspiration to get there. They'd rather be ignorant than go into the path of seeking knowledge. They'd rather not to gain, for example, a high status because they're happy with the low status that they have right now.

**[13:02]** So this is what he's saying. He says, look, the scholars, they have gone through a lot of training, a lot of effort to get at that level. It's difficult, but once you get there, the pleasure of arriving at that category, at that level of pleasure and sweetness,

**[13:18]** it is not, of course, it's, subhanallah, you can't compare it to anything else. And that's what they say, the scholars, they say, wallahi inna lana fi ladhatin law ya'lamu anha al-muluk wa abna' al-muluk la-qataluna alayha bi al-suyuf

**[13:34]** The scholars used to say, we are in possession of such a joy, such a pleasure, like our lifestyle has so much pleasure in terms of seeking knowledge and living by the knowledge and so on, that if the king and the children of the kings would know about it,

**[13:51]** they will come to fight us with the sword to get it. Like they would fight for it because our pleasure is something more superior than this level of pleasure. I think, Shaykh, that's true just for the believers as a whole with their faith. You know, we live in an era where mockery of faith is abound everywhere.

**[14:08]** Like I always think to myself, subhanallah, like anytime I put something online about religion, you get the mockery of it, right? Like you people are so backwards, you don't understand. They make you feel like, or they're trying to make you feel like

**[14:24]** you're blind, you're lost, and you're illogical, and you must be miserable. And the reality is like, you have no idea what we're accessing through this deen. You have no idea what we're accessing through our Ramadan.

**[14:40]** You have no idea what we're accessing through our love of the Prophet (ﷺ). You don't get it. Like we get exactly what you're about because we eat, we drink, we do the things that everybody does in terms of the halal. Like we get what human desires are fulfilled,

**[14:55]** but you don't get what spiritual desires are when they're fulfilled, and you can't understand it unless you're actually in it, right? batinuhu fihi al-rahmah wa dhahiruhu min qibalihi al-adhab It's like an analogy on the Day of Judgment when the barrier comes down between the believers and the hypocrites,

**[15:10]** the inside of it is mercy and the outside of it is torture. You know, you think like you've got it all figured out in life, but you're not happy. You've got money, you've got access to your desires, but you're miserable, yet you're mocking those that are happy because you think that they're backwards.

**[15:26]** And that's just a plot of shaytan towards that person. And one of the dangerous things, subhanallah, that you know, when Sayyiduna Umar (رضي الله عنه) talks about that, like Umar (رضي الله عنه) mentioned, like we knew the days of ignorance and we knew the days with the Prophet (ﷺ). Like there was no more dramatic shift of worshipping

**[15:44]** man ittakhadha ilahahu hawa those that used to worship their desires than those that completely forsake this world, than the companions of the Prophet (ﷺ). They went from being idol worshippers, completely buried in ignorance, living out their desires,

**[15:59]** to being people that rose to be the purest and the best generation of all time. And Umar (رضي الله عنه) said, I'm worried about Islam being lost. idh nasha'a fi al-islam man lam ya'rif al-jahiliyyah When people are born into Islam that don't know the days of ignorance. Like someone who converted to Islam

**[16:15]** or who lived a lifestyle far away from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and had it all, and then truly submitted themselves in Islam, will tell you, I would never want to go back to that. I was miserable. I had all that I wanted. I had the money. I had the women.

**[16:30]** I had the drugs. You hear it over and over and over again. And I was miserable. Now I'm happy. Now I'm fulfilled. Now I have a sense of purpose. And that's why Heraclius when he asked Abu Sufyan about the Prophet (ﷺ) and the deen, he said, does anyone leave this religion after they embrace it,

**[16:46]** out of being displeased with religion? Like I get some people will leave because they get tortured. Some people will leave because of the pressure. But do people actually leave the religion because they're dissatisfied after they've come into it? And Abu Sufyan who was not Muslim at the time, was an enemy of the Prophet (ﷺ),

**[17:02]** he had to admit, he's like, no. Some of them leave when we torture them. But no one's leaving because they're finding Islam unsatisfactory compared to what they used to have in the days of ignorance and idol worship. Subhanallah, Shaykh, that reminds me as well with the conversation I had with

**[17:18]** Shaykh Muhammad Sharif (رحمه الله تعالى) at the time when we were talking about AlMaghrib Institute and why he really had that vision to create an institute that will teach knowledge to the professional people who have a very busy life. So I remember him keep saying, look, you have to understand that knowledge

**[17:34]** is happiness. He said like knowledge is happiness. Once you figure out something and learn something new, their natural reaction to it would be what? To smile. Like when you learn something new, if you try to solve a problem

**[17:50]** for example, you keep working on it so hard until suddenly you find the answer to it. Because that's why you have that light bulb, even in cartoons, you know when Tom and Jerry and Tom has a big smile on his face. Why is that? Once you figure out something, the result of knowing

**[18:06]** is happiness. And that's what gives actually that big smile which speaks about the pleasure, the ladhah of knowing is way more superior than the ladhah of eating and drinking and engaging with the pleasure of this dunya. So Ibn Hazm continues right now, he says,

**[18:22]** and he's now trying to prove the point. He goes, He said, if you try to chase after all these matters, you will ruin everything. What does that mean? There's a famous statement in leadership

**[18:38]** that if you chase two rabbits, what's going to happen to jama'ah? Have you ever chased two rabbits? If you chase two rabbits, what's going to happen to jama'ah? Both will escape. You will catch nothing. Now imagine if you're chasing ten rabbits. What's going to

**[18:54]** happen? You're just going to get exhausted. You're going to become resentful and you hate yourself. He says the exact same thing over here. If you chase after all these matters, like you want the pleasure of the money, you want the pleasure of just enjoying life, the pleasure of intimacy, the pleasure of fame and name and this, all the pleasure of this.

**[19:14]** You chase after all these things, they will all be ruined because you're not going to be able to catch all of them. He says, wa tantahi fi aakhir al-fikr bi-istiqsa' jami' ahwal al-dunya ila anna al-haqq innama huwa al-amal li-l-aakhirah He said if you keep chasing after all these matters, they will all be ruined and eventually everything is going to come down to realize one thing.

**[19:35]** That the true meaning of this life is to work for the hereafter. The true meaning of this life is not about chasing after all these matters, it's working for the hereafter. He said, li-anna kulla amalin min a'mal al-dunya fa-inna ma'ahu hamman, because every hope that you had for something from the matters of the world, usually it's followed with what? With a level of sadness, a level of concern.

**[20:00]** Whether you get something good, you're concerned that this is not going to last forever. Or you get something bad that is already actually making you feel bad. So it doesn't matter, all the matters of the world are eventually going to lead you to feel concerned somehow. He said, li-zawalihi aw li-zawali al-makan minhu

**[20:16]** Or you're going to depart from that place. Let's say you enjoyed your time somewhere, or enjoyed your time with something in your hand, and you enjoyed playing in a place. You're going to have to go back home, you're going to have to leave eventually. He said, wa la budda min ahad al-amrayn, and it's always the case, whether this matter that you're enjoying goes away from your hand, or you go away from it.

**[20:38]** This is how life is. Then he says, illa al-amal lillah, except for one thing, except working for the sake of Allah, fa-innahu la hamm ma'ahu, because this will eventually always make you feel good, whether now or later.

**[20:58]** It makes you feel good because you're doing something for the sake of Allah, and then later on as well you will see the result of it in the dunya and the akhirah. He said, amma fi al-ajil fa-li-salamatika min al-hamm al-ladhi yalzam ghayraka mimman yatalab al-dunya, as for that which is right now, which is immediate, the immediate pleasure of doing things for the sake of Allah is that you don't have the worries of the others who worry so much about the matters of the dunya.

**[21:25]** I don't worry about that stuff. Like people, they come to complain about their love, they complain about their money, they complain about their job. I don't have the concern for these matters, so I'm not worrying about that. He said, wa annaka bihi mu'adhdham min al-aduww wa al-sadiq

**[22:05]** Like you just think about now, what do they call it? They call it the attention economy. I couldn't believe that was actually a phrase. Attention economy, that we live in an attention economy. Everyone is competing to get attention, and you will make a fool out of yourself, and you will do everything that you possibly can to get attention.

**[22:24]** Now obviously not everyone is on social media and doing that, you know, just trying to do whatever they can to get the clicks. But it's indicative of a mindset, right? That a person will lower themselves in every way because they live in an attention economy. Alright, so if you're doing something that's haram, let's say that you're doing drugs, then you're going to keep on trying to sedate and go to the next drug, the next drug, the next drug, right?

**[22:44]** And you'll lower yourself and you'll make a fool out of yourself. If you're doing relationships, you're going to constantly try to hide your tracks from one relationship to the other. Drama, drama, drama. If you're a messy person, you gossip, you backbite, you talk, you speak about people in a certain way. You're constantly going to have drama in your life, right?

**[23:00]** Because you're constantly going to be, you know, burning people here, burning people there, and all that is going to catch up to you. It just keeps on getting worse and worse and worse for you, and you're constantly buried in concern, and no one actually respects you at the end of it. No one has any respect for you. But he says, he says that one of the benefits of being a noble person, he says,

**[23:19]** wa annaka bihi mu'adhdham min al-aduww wa al-sadiq That your enemy and your friend both respect you. Even your enemies respect you. They know that you're a noble person. They hate you, but they respect you. In fact, they envy you, right?

**[23:36]** You know, I look at the most cowardly people on the face of the earth facing the most courageous people on the face of the earth, and we all know where I'm talking about. And, you know, you see like that, that, I'm just going to say it, that IDF soldier who walks into Gaza knows that that child has so much more, like,

**[23:54]** what is it with you? mu'adhdham They hate you because they can't figure you out, but you know you're a coward, and you know what that kid is about. You know what that kid has inside of them. So, you are mu'adhdham, you're respected.

**[24:09]** People admire you, they respect you, even when they hate you. So he says that one of the benefits is that you live a life of respect from those that hate you. But he says, wa amma fi al-aajil And then that which comes later, fa-al-jannah Then you'll get jannah at the end of it anyway.

**[24:24]** So you're not doing it to be respected by your enemy, you're not doing it to be respected by the people. But you're living a clean, noble life, and in the process of that dignity, you have less drama, you have less anxiety, and that's where this chapter is really going to go.

**[24:39]** This is similar to the Prophet's (ﷺ) statement, when somebody says, athar He says, izhad fima fi aydi al-nas yuhibbuka al-nas That if you lose interest, and you don't show any interest in what the people have in their hands, in their possessions, people will love you.

**[24:56]** wa izhad fi al-dunya yuhibbuka Allah And disassociate yourself from this world. Give up on this world, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will love you. Similarly over here, when you give up on what people have in their possessions, you're not impressed by their cars and their homes and this and that and so on,

**[25:12]** people will love you for it, respect you for that. But every time someone invites you to their house, and you start saying, Wow, this is beautiful, this is amazing, this, this, that, they hate you. And they don't respect you either. Because I'm being here as a guest, and you just keep commenting on everything that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala blessed me with.

**[25:27]** Without saying tabarak Allah wa mashallah So the same thing over here says, Look, if you disassociate yourself from the worldly possessions, people will respect you. They might not love you, like you said, but they will still respect you. Shaykh, the next chapter right now that he's talking about,

**[25:42]** and for those who are following in the English chapter, in the English book, actually it's on page three and page four. He says here, rahimahu Allah ta'ala qala tatalabtu gharadan istawaa al-nas kulluhum fi istihsanihi wa fi talabihi fa-lam ajidhu illa wahidan wa huwa tard al-hamm

**[25:57]** This is a very important chapter. He's going to be maybe speaking about this for the next four or five pages. And it is considered one of the major theories in human psychology and in psychology, modern psychology. He says, I was kind of like thinking about, in my mind, like I was reflecting on,

**[26:17]** one thing all people agree to believe it's a good thing to do. Like if everybody agrees that this is the best thing you should spend your life doing, what would it be? He says, That tells you how much energy he put in it.

**[26:34]** Like he was reflecting and studying and going back again and reflecting on it until he realized this is the one. And what is that? It's basically kind of like freeing yourself of all worries and concerns.

**[26:49]** Dispelling all worries and concerns from your life. Like all your life you're trying to live worry-free. That's it. Like all what people need, what is it now? To live worry-free. You come home, worry-free. You go to work, worry-free.

**[27:04]** You wake up, worry-free. Anywhere you go, worry-free. You worry about nothing if you can. Everybody agrees that if you live worry-free, you had everything you want. Shaykh, I want to tap into this. What's really amazing is how Islamic scholars were able to think about what Allah promised of the hereafter.

**[27:24]** And then they projected that back into this dunya because Allah speaks to our psychology because Allah created us. So if you look at how Allah praises Jannah, the idea of being worry-free. You're no longer,

**[27:39]** You're no longer afraid. You're no longer anxious about anything. You're not waking up in Jannah like, is something going to show up on my phone that's going to ruin my Jannah? Like think about it now, subhanallah. You're on vacation. You're in a really good place.

**[27:54]** Your phone starts buzzing. Uh-oh, you see a certain name. Uh-oh, like your joy is instantly dissipated. In Jannah, you're not worried about the bad phone call. You're not worried about the sudden slip. It's being worry-free. And like, what these scholars tap into is they took like these concepts from the Quran, and then they looked at modern psychology,

**[28:12]** and they said, they actually filtered the theories through that. People are not seeking happiness in the sense like, you know, they're not seeking joy in the sense of like having a thrill, an adrenaline. That's usually just covering up for something.

**[28:27]** People want safety. They want safety in their relationships. They want safety in their homes. They want safety in their rizq, in their sustenance. They want security, right? Safety and security. They don't want to be worried and anxious all the time. So he's saying, that's what I figured out. Like all this time of trying to sift through like what is it that people actually want,

**[28:46]** I realized that everyone, the religious person, the secular person, everyone wants to be concern-free. They want to cover their bases, feel like they're productive, and they put things aside, and they're in safety now. He says over here, rahimahullah,

**[29:04]** He said, look, when I started thinking about it even deeper, when I went deeper into thinking about it, I realized it's not just people, they like that concept. It's not like they all believe it's a good concept. And not just pursuing it.

**[29:20]** I found out, and I looked into it. Regardless of their backgrounds, regardless of their principles, regardless of their value systems. And it doesn't matter how strong their resolve is to achieve something or looking for high aspiration, low aspiration.

**[29:36]** He says, everybody, at the end of the day, He goes, every movement they do in their life, it's for that reason.

**[29:52]** They're trying to remove concerns and worries from their lives. And every statement they speak and they say, it's for the same reason. They try to be worry-free. Like they're trying to remove all their concerns. And Shaykh, this is compatible to the ayat in [Surah Al-Ma'arij 70] when Allah says,

**[30:11]** That insan was created halu'a, which means in a state of worry and always afraid and concerned. When they're afflicted with the calamity, they freak out. And when they're blessed with prosperity, they become manu'a, which means they withhold.

**[30:29]** And that also because they're also concerned and they're also worrying about losing that pleasure they have in their hands. He says, And he means by that, subhanahu wa ta'ala, that those who connect with Allah.

**[30:44]** So this is basically what Imam Ibn Hazm is looking from these ayat and he says, fa-min mukhti' li-sabilihi, wa min muqarib li-l-khata', wa huwa aqall al-nas fi aqall al-umur So some people, with what they say and what they do, they completely miss the target.

**[31:01]** Like they think when they do these things, it's going to give them the perpetual pleasure, but they miss the target. So they worry even more. Some, halfway, they do things, bring them some pleasure, and bring things, of course, keep them concerned. He says,

**[31:18]** The least are those who hit the target, you know, probably when they do it, it gives them that sense of pleasure. Shaykh, there's like a, in every chapter of this book, there's a moment, like there's a paragraph that's just so mind-blowing that you kind of have to sit with.

**[31:33]** So I want to fast forward to that, if you don't mind. Please, bismillah. So if you go down about three paragraphs, and he talks about this idea of warding off worry, that everyone in life, I mean the theory that he's putting forth is that everyone wants to live without anxiety. At the end of the day, you want to live,

**[31:49]** Right, free of concern. I don't want to feel like, you know, anyone's trying to get me, or I don't want to feel like I'm going to lose anything that I have. And listen to what he says. He says,

**[32:06]** He says, Aslit means a reputation, right? If you watch the other side, episode three. Your name in the heavens. The Prophet (ﷺ) said everyone has aslit in the heavens, that would be placed upon them on earth, a reputation.

**[32:25]** So he says, people seek reputations for what reason? He says, to rid themselves of the anxiety of being looked down upon, of being a nobody in society. Why do you want a reputation? He said, the real reason people want reputation is that they don't want to be nobodies in society, the fear of being a nobody.

**[32:42]** Okay, then he continues. He says, He said, and the one who seeks pleasure, who seeks pleasure does so out of the fear of missing out.

**[33:00]** FOMO, fear of missing out. He's talking about it a thousand years ago in Andalus, right? So people really do this because people fear missing out on the pleasures. Everyone's talking about how great this is. Everyone's talking about how happy this makes you. Everyone's talking about how good this feels. Well, I want to know that.

**[33:15]** Like, I don't want to feel like I'm the only one that doesn't know how good this feels. And that's how Shaytan sells things to you, right? It's like, you've got to try this. You've got to try this. You've got, look, everybody else is trying it. You've got to try this. What if you die and you never get to taste this? You've got to try this. You've got to try this.

**[33:30]** And he says, And the one who seeks knowledge, seeks knowledge out of fear of being an ignorant person. Because no one wants to be dumb. No one wants to be, no one wants to be an idiot. The concern of being ignorant. Yeah, no one wants to be ignorant. Like, I want to know what's going on. wa innama hashsha ila sama' al-akhbar wa muhadathat al-nas

**[33:50]** It's as if he lived in the social media era. True. He says, wa innama hashsha ila sama' al-akhbar wa muhadathat al-nas man yatlubu dhalika li-yatrud bihi an nafsihi hamm al-tawahhud wa maghib ahwal al-alam anhu

**[34:06]** He says, people go and get nosy and they start listening to the news of other people and they dive into socializing and gossip and things that they have no business getting into, he says, for two reasons. Number one, out of the fear of being lonely and isolated.

**[34:23]** Why do you dip yourself into other people's business? Why do you jump into gossip? Why do you jump into things that have no concern with you whatsoever? You know what he's saying? Because you're afraid of being alone. You're afraid of actually having to figure your own life out and figure yourself out and sit with yourself and deeply parse through why you're here, your purpose.

**[34:42]** And when the Prophet (ﷺ) says that the very first key to dealing with fitnah is wa li-yasa'ka baytuk or one of the things, he said, you need to learn how to be at home. You need to learn how to be alone. Because otherwise people try to find themselves, not find themselves amongst friends,

**[35:00]** people try to lose themselves amongst friends because we don't know how to be alone with ourselves. We don't know how to think. So he says the first thing is the fear of loneliness. We dive into other people's business because we don't know how to be alone. And the second thing is the fear of not knowing the state of the world.

**[35:15]** I want to know what happened. What happened last night? What happened yesterday? So I've got to be up to date with everybody else's news and that's an isolating feeling to not know what's happening in the world. But you know what, subhanallah, if you embrace it, it actually frees you of concern.

**[35:30]** It's not a big deal. Subhanallah, the first time you actually do this, and I guarantee you, just trust me on it, do a tech fast. We talk about siyam. Do a tech fast.

**[35:45]** I've experienced this. Where you take a few days, no one in the family is allowed to use any technology. Three days. I mean like in the beginning, people are like, it's like everyone looks weird and anxious.

**[36:00]** You already give them extra concern right now to worry about. What's going on here? Everyone looks like a drug addict trying to figure out like, I got to grab the phone. I got to see what happened. Did anybody text? I wonder what happened. By day two, they feel their pockets are lighter probably.

**[36:16]** Subhanallah, just put all the phones in like a drawer for three days. By day two, day three, your mind starts clearing. Your heart starts kind of like, you know what? It's not that big of a deal. The world didn't fall apart.

**[36:31]** I actually found like some joy with myself here. But we're so addicted to the news of the world and other people's business because we're afraid of being alone. And subhanallah, you know, one of the things, Imam Jamil, may Allah cure him and may Allah free him.

**[36:48]** Bring him back to us. This is his community. Allahumma ameen. Subhanallah, he talks about isolation and prison. And he talks about how at some point when you're isolated in prison, something clicks, like they try to break you.

**[37:03]** And most people do break. I mean, it's a cruel punishment when they put you in isolation, solitary confinement. Think about the words, solitary confinement. The goal is to make you lose your mind. So at some point, something clicks.

**[37:20]** You can't explain it to anybody. It's not a good feeling. Most people lose themselves in there. Most people, I mean, come out and they're not normal. One of the most heartbreaking images, subhanallah, was to see people coming out of the prisons in Syria. Now we see our hostages coming back from the Israeli occupation forces, right?

**[37:37]** Palestinian hostages coming back to us. And they've been in prison for 30, 40 years. And what they've been subjected to, terrible, right? Sometimes we do that to ourselves. We're so afraid of being alone. And you need to learn how to be alone with your thoughts,

**[37:52]** be alone with yourself. Stop being so afraid of not knowing what's happening in the world and not knowing the news. No, it's okay. We're so afraid of not knowing the latest gossip in the community. Wallahi, you live a good life. You live a good life if you don't know the gossip in the community. The center of attention on social media,

**[38:07]** the likes and the following and the numbers and all the stuff, is very concerning to the people of these days. Like if your numbers are going down, you freak out. People, they don't like me anymore. And if you don't get that many likes, just like it did in the previous post,

**[38:22]** oh, what's happening? I'm losing followers right now. This new concern, subhanallah, it's just unbelievable. There's even right now a whole book by Jonathan Haidt on the subject, actually, which is called, what is it called?

**[38:38]** You have it in my office. I forgot the name of it. It's basically about kind of like anxious generation or ancient nation. Everybody's anxious. Everybody's anxious because unfortunately, we found something else that we're not supposed to focus on.

**[38:54]** So Ibn Hazm, to bring us back to the point that he says earlier, he goes, I have looked into the matter, and I found out that everybody, the good and the bad, the knowledgeable and the ignorant, the hard worker and the lazy ones, they all agree on one thing,

**[39:09]** which is to remove that concern from their lives. He said, but I found it to be in one single thing. And that is, he said, I found it only to be true if you dedicate yourself to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala

**[39:26]** and you work only for the hereafter. As everything else, he says, it comes with its own baggage and its own liabilities. Everything else, you'll be worrying about if that's going to last for long, if I'm going to be having all completely, is it going to be enjoyable as I was hoping for?

**[39:42]** Is it going to meet my expectation? There's always like this. Then he goes, Shaykh, and he says, I found out that every amal, everything you do for the hereafter, is free from any of these liabilities, having someone being envious of you, or maybe losing the possession that you have in your hand,

**[40:00]** or some enemies going after you. Can I actually read just a couple sentences before that? Please. Because it's where he gives the example, because they're most powerful, right before he gets to that. He's talking about, he says, listen, the point is that in the hereafter, he's talking about, he says, listen,

**[40:15]** the point is that if you reach these places, actually he's coming to it, sorry, you're right, he's coming to it. So he's saying if you reach these places, then they come with all their headaches too, the harmful consequences. Sorry, Shaykh, so you're about to get to that. So basically he says that, look, everything you have in your life,

**[40:31]** you'll have someone to compete with you, someone doing better than you, someone maybe hate you, someone that, there are a lot of liabilities when it comes to the matters of the dunya. Everything. You get married, alhamdulillah, your single friend is like, oh man, right? He got married.

**[40:46]** And they become envious of you. Alhamdulillah, Allah bless you with a job, high-paid jobs. Everybody's envious of that. Like you cannot, you cannot live this dunya without having somebody who will ruin it for you. He says, except for the matters of the akhirah.

**[41:01]** And he explains right now, how is it different? He goes, as for al-amal al-akhirah, I found that working for the hereafter will be free of any of these liabilities, any of these blemishes. It has absolutely, nothing tarnishes it.

**[41:19]** It really hits the target for you by removing all concerns and will be genuinely, truly worry-free. The matter of the akhirah. And then he gave examples. He says, I found that working for the hereafter

**[41:34]** was not a good idea. If someone who's working for the akhirah was harmed because of doing that for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, he wouldn't be bothered. Why is that? He basically, this wouldn't hurt him. Rather you feel joyful.

**[41:51]** Why is that? Because you're doing it for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Because he feels and he hopes the result of this ordeal or trial will be fulfillment of what he's really seeking.

**[42:07]** Which is the akhirah, al-jannah. He, as a result, I'm willing to go through the difficulties of going through this because my aim is al-jannah. And he wouldn't be bothered by any obstacle on this road. So Shaykh, I found the line that I was looking for

**[42:22]** and I went up about, it actually ties so beautifully into this. So he's saying, let's just say you get everything that you're seeking. Let's say you get the reputation. Now you're afraid of what? So he says, min khawfi munafis wa ta'ni hasid Right?

**[42:37]** So you get where you want to get. But now that you got what you wanted, now you have the new anxiety of someone that hates you because you got it. So you got the money that you wanted because you were so afraid of poverty but now you have to worry about what? ikhtilasa raghib

**[42:53]** He says that it might be that someone will steal it from you. al-ithm And he says, al-dam that people will come after you and they'll try to take it away from you. So he says, if you get the money out of fear of what it means to not have money, you have to now worry about

**[43:08]** people coming after you for your money. If you get the reputation, now you have to worry about people that envy you and hate you. If you get position, now you have the anxiety of competitors. So he's saying, even when you get these things, out of fear of an anxiety, the only thing that happens is that your worry is replaced by another worry.

**[43:25]** But subhanallah, this part, bal yusarr I love what he says here. He says that if a person's pursuing Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, he says in the process of pursuing Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, Allah will take care of your worldly affairs. So you'll get your reputation.

**[43:41]** You'll be taken care of. You'll be sustained. Allah will sort out, right, all of your worldly affairs. As the Prophet (ﷺ) mentions that whoever wakes up and their concern is the akhirah, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala brings their affairs together for them. Allah azawajal takes care of their worldly needs, right?

**[43:56]** Whereas a person who wakes up and the dunya is their greatest concern, then Allah azawajal scatters all of their affairs and they're always all over the place. And he says that the believer who's pursuing Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will get these things,

**[44:11]** and he said here's something else that happens. He says that when he is tested in those things, because his actual pursuit is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, then he will not be saddened when he's tested in those things

**[44:27]** because he'll see them as benefits ultimately in the journey to what he's seeking. So if I'm pursuing Allah and then Allah tests me with a hasid, then I'll take that hasid, I'll take that envious person as a means by which Allah is purifying me to get me to a position that he wants to get me to.

**[44:42]** If I pursue Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and I get wealth and Allah tests me with someone who attacks me with my wealth, then I'll take that as a means by which Allah is trying to give me a greater position in Jannah and giving me a test in my patience so that my good deeds remain intact.

**[44:57]** So, bal yusarr, I'll be pleased with that. And this is what the Prophet (ﷺ) said, ajaban li-amr al-mu'min How amazing is the affair of who? The believer. And the Prophet (ﷺ) said, No one gets it except for a believer.

**[45:12]** Even the hadith mentions it. laysa dhalika li-ahad No one understands this except for a believer. That when good things happen to him, he says alhamdulillah, he praises Allah, he thanks Allah and that's better for him.

**[45:27]** And when he's tested, sabara, he's patient, he still says alhamdulillah, wa kana khayran lahu and that's better for him. And that is not for anyone except for the believer. That Allah azawajal will test you, wa la-nabluwannakum bi-shay'in min al-khawf wa al-ju'

**[45:42]** wa naqsin min al-amwal wa al-anfus wa al-thamarat wa bashshir al-sabirin Allah says, we're gonna test you with fear, we're gonna test you with hunger, we're gonna test you in your health, we're gonna test you in all of these things. By the way, Allah is gonna test the believer and he's gonna test the disbeliever. Allah is gonna test the person

**[45:57]** who's worried about this dunya, and the person who's not worried about this dunya. Allah is gonna test the pursuer of the hereafter and the pursuer of material. But at the end of the day, Allah says the only one who actually gets out of this okay, is who? al-sabirin Those who are patient.

**[46:12]** Why? alladhina idha asabathum musibah Those who when they are struck with tragedy. qalu inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un This whole time we belong to Allah and to Allah we were returning anyway. So, so long as this is bringing me closer to Allah

**[46:29]** and this is better for my eventual return to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the hereafter. bal yusarr Like he's not replacing his concern with concern. He says alhamdulillah for the tests and the trials as well. Because those tests and trials are meant to avert a greater test,

**[46:46]** a greater trial in the hereafter. So he's in summary basically for this chapter. He says rahimahu Allah Basically what the summary of it is that look for those who really seek the reward of the hereafter they're always in a moment of joy. Whether it's something good that comes to them

**[47:01]** they're very grateful or something as a trial come to them and they're patient and they're also happy with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala you know reward them for it. So eventually they're always actually in a moment of joy and that's the ladhah he was talking about and he says annahu matlub wahid

**[47:16]** You have to understand it's only one thing you need to worry about. One thing you need to worry about and that is to worry about the hereafter. That's it. al-akhirah qala wa huwa tard al-hamm You're trying to dispel all these apprehensions and all these concerns from your life and there is no way to this except one way

**[47:32]** and that is to work for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala qala wa huwa al-amal lillahi ta'ala and that's to work for the sake of Allah azza wa jal. fa-ma ada dhalika fa-dalalin wa sukhf Anything else, it leads you astray and wastes basically your energy and your time.

**[47:47]** That's what he's saying over here rahimahu Allah wa ta'ala Shaykh That reminds me of hadith al-nabi (ﷺ) man ja'al al-humum hamman wahidan hamm al-ma'ad kafahu Allah sa'ir humum The Prophet (ﷺ) says in the hadith man ja'al al-humum hamman wahidan

**[48:04]** Whoever makes his concerns all one Like everything but one hamm al-ma'ad The concern for the hereafter kafahu Allah sa'ir humum Allah will suffice them All their other concerns

**[48:19]** Shaykh Just before we take questions Inshallah wa ta'ala here The last few points that he mentioned If you see these points down there qala Not quickly Rapid points basically He made them into like signatures In Arabic they call them tawqi'at

**[48:34]** Basically in the Arabic literature qala la tabdhul nafsaka illa fima huwa a'la minha wa laysa dhalika illa fi dhat Allah ta'ala fi du'a' ila haqq wa himayat al-harim wa fi daf' hawan lam yujibhu alayka khaliquka azza wa jalla wa fi nasr madhlum He says

**[48:49]** Don't tabdhul nafsak Don't offer yourself Don't sacrifice yourself For anything that is less Than what it deserves Like don't sacrifice yourself For something that is lowly Really He says qala

**[49:04]** And that only can be If you're doing it for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala If you're doing it because You are standing for justice du'a' ila haqq You stand for justice himayat al-harim That you're protecting of course The sanctity of your sanctuaries Whatever it's

**[49:19]** Your possessions Your family and so on And also to defend yourself Against any kind of humiliation That might come your way Except of course And such as nasr al-madhlum Defending those who are oppressed I want to just hit one of these points

**[49:34]** If that's okay It's talib al-akhirah li-yafuz fi al-akhirah Absolutely Yeah, it's really interesting Because Laylatul Qadr is so much about the angels And subhanallah One of the things that I would recommend to everyone When you're doing tadabbur wa tafakkur

**[49:50]** When you're doing introspection You have to step out of yourself And view yourself from an objective lens We make a lot of excuses for ourselves We look at ourselves We always have an eye of sympathy Everyone is the hero of their own story Everyone is the victimized

**[50:08]** Everyone is this To do proper muhasabah To do proper accounting You have to step out of yourself And look at yourself As much as you can from an objective lens So here This is one of my favorite lines in this chapter

**[50:23]** Because he paints a picture for you He says If you could give an image to yourself Based upon what you're pursuing If you were to craft an image of yourself Based upon what you're pursuing What do you look like? So he says The one who's seeking the akhirah The one who's seeking the hereafter So that they can attain the hereafter

**[50:39]** Is likened to al-mala'ikah Is like an angel talib al-sharr The one who seeks evil Is like who? Is a shaytan So do you look like an angel? Based on Are you pursuing what the angels pursue?

**[50:54]** Do you look like a shaytan? Based on Are you pursuing what the shayateen are pursuing? The shayateen pursue discord in society You know Shaykh al-Sha'rawi rahimahu Allah ta'ala He talked about how Once he was Like talking to someone Who said he wants to blow up a nightclub

**[51:10]** I'll never forget You ever heard this story, Shaykh? He said he wants to blow up a nightclub So he said I told him I said alright So if you blow up the nightclub Why do you want to blow up the nightclub? He said He said because haram and that kind of stuff I said alright That's good He said And what's your goal? He said if these people die

**[51:25]** Where are they going? So you're trying to send them to hell He said yes So he said What's the difference between you and the shaytan then? You want them to go to hell? Right? Like think about the outcome Right? So if you draw yourself based on an outcome He says first and foremost The one who pursues the hereafter Is like an angel The one who pursues

**[51:40]** al-sharr Dividing the people Causing fitnah amongst the people Drama amongst the people Pitting people against each other Harming people Is a shaytan talib al-aslit wa al-ghalabah The one who seeks reputation and victory Competitive spirit, right?

**[51:56]** He said you're like a predatory animal What makes you different than the predatory animal Who has to win every battle? Right? And he says wa talib al-ladhdhah And the one who just pursues their lower desires ka-al-baha'im You're like the lower animals That just, you know

**[52:12]** Graze the earth But they have no real purpose in life So he says Define yourself by your pursuit Draw an image of yourself By your pursuit And that's how you'll actually get A true look at yourself And see where it is that you need to work on

**[52:29]** Your aspirations You can't unlock your higher self Just remember this line You can't unlock your higher self Unless you know your higher aspirations You can't unlock your higher self Unless you know your higher aspirations Just to go over this rapid point that he mentioned Because I think they're very valuable

**[52:44]** For you to start taking questions Inshallah He says wa badhil nafsih fi arad dunya ka-ba'i al-yaqut bi-al-hasah He said you have to understand That if you sacrifice yourself for matters of dunya You're just simply exchanging rubies With gravel, with stones

**[53:01]** Like you're wasting the most valuable thing For something completely worthless qala al-aqil la yara li-nafsihi thamanan illa al-jannah A wise person accepts absolutely no price

**[53:16]** For himself or herself but Jannah Like you can't exchange anything for yourself in your life But it has to bring you closer to al-Jannah And that's just a few rapid points that he mentioned rahimahu Allah wa ta'ala Inshallah tomorrow we're going to be studying chapter 3

**[53:31]** On page 7 bi-idhnillah azza wa jalla Shaykh We have a lot of questions already coming in right now And I hope that our viewers Who are watching from all around the world As well as the brothers and sisters Who are sending their questions Making sure that it's just within the topic of our discussion

**[53:47]** Because I already have questions talking about Starting another cooking series And other people saying things that are completely not relevant To this discussion over here

**[54:02]** Yeah So many actually irrelevant questions over here Here's a question Shaykh It says over here What are some practical tips to work on letting go Of the care of worldly pursuit?

**[54:18]** What are some practical tips to work on Letting go of the care of worldly pursuit? This is a great question The Prophet (ﷺ) used to make a du'a Or he was saying in the trenches Allahumma la aysh illa aysh al-akhirah

**[54:34]** Oh Allah there is no life except for the life of the hereafter By the way the same Prophet (ﷺ) The Quran was revealed to him And what's the ayah? Right wa la tansa nasibaka min al-dunya

**[54:49]** Don't forget your pursuit of this life Instead say rabbana atina fi al-dunya hasanah wa fi al-akhirah hasanah wa qina adhab al-nar Oh Allah grant us the best of this life And the best of the next And protect us from the punishment of the fire Is there a contradiction between these two things?

**[55:04]** No There's a difference between Taking care of your worldly obligations As worldly obligations And seeking your salvation and your purpose and your happiness Through your worldly obligations It's a big difference between those two things

**[55:19]** And the best way to practically You know maintain this balance Is to turn your worldly obligations Into pursuits of the hereafter as well So your earning has sadaqah in it Your providing has sadaqah in it Even your fulfillment of your desires

**[55:36]** Has sadaqah in it It has reward in it As long as you take everything that you do The pursuit of the halal And you turn the pursuit of the halal Into the pursuit of something that's greater Then there is no contradiction between the two things

**[55:51]** Shaykh even such as Prophet (ﷺ) said when he was asked about Which is the most valuable Dirham that you spent He says dirham tunfiqu fi sabil Allah wa dirham tunfiqu ala ahlika You know the dirham that you spend for the sake of Allah And the one that you spend to take care of your family

**[56:07]** Which one is more valuable The amount of money that you spend on your family Is more valuable And that's your point that even the thing that we do As part of our duty in this dunya It still can be an act of worship If we do it with the right intention Another question Shaykh here says

**[56:23]** As someone who suffers with an anxiety a lot What would an anxiety for the akhirah look like? What does it mean to worry for the akhirah? Like I worry about many things What does it mean to worry for the akhirah?

**[56:39]** The worry for the hereafter Is the prioritization of the hereafter There's this famous conversation I believe it was Ibn Sirin I heard someone say man arafa Allah tala huzn

**[56:55]** Whoever knows Allah is prolonged in grief And he said no no no Whoever knows Allah tala farahuhu He's increased in joy The worry for the hereafter is not one that shuts you down It's one that activates you It's one that infuses everything that you have and everything that you do with a sense of purpose It's one that turns every moment into an opportunity to have a better eternity That's the worry for the hereafter Do I worry about punishment? Yes But do I despair in that punishment? No Because I believe Allah azza wa jalla

**[57:30]** is merciful enough to forgive me for any sin But I also understand the urgency of repenting from that sin I know that these punishments exist in the hereafter And I have not exempted myself from the possibility of falling into these punishments But I don't believe that I'm doomed to these punishments so long as I pursue Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's pleasure

**[57:51]** So it's an activating concern An activating worry It doesn't shut you down and leave you in bed And you're not doing anything And subhanallah it's really interesting Because in [Surah Ali 'Imran 3] Subhanallah Third page

**[58:07]** qul ana anbi'ukum bi-khayrin min dhalikum li-lladhina ittaqaw alladhina yaquluna rabbana innana amanna fa-ighfir lana dhunubana wa qina adhab al-nar Every time Allah azza wa jalla talks about people waking up to the reality And contemplating on the heavens and the earth

**[58:22]** Then they get up like there's a visual of them standing up And making qiyam And asking Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala not to punish them in the hereafter Right wa la tukhzina yawm al-ba'th

**[58:38]** Don't humiliate us the day that you resurrect us Oh Allah ibad al-rahman What are they doing when they're standing up at night and praying They're asking Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala not to punish them in the hereafter But there's a visual here They're not laying in bed saying Oh Allah don't punish me or I'm doomed

**[58:55]** I've perished They're getting up and making wudu And they're praying They're calling upon us in hope and fear So the concern for the hereafter activates you Towards making your hereafter better And obviously the balance between the two things

**[59:11]** Between worrying about your deeds won't be accepted But at the same time having hope in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala And mercy to accept that as well too There's so many questions about People saying well I'm trying to do that I'm trying to pursue the hereafter But then I get all these people who envy me

**[59:27]** Evil eye, jealousy Family coming my way And they don't understand why I'm doing this for the hereafter They want you to focus on the dunya How do we deal with all these obstacles? You know subhanallah Abu al-Darda' (رضي الله عنه) Was asked like a similar question

**[59:43]** He said that I found that people are like thorns If you leave them alone they prick you And if you don't leave them alone If you mess with them they hurt you And if you don't mess with them they still prick you Like you will always be stung by people And so he was asked so what should we do? He said loan people your reputation

**[59:59]** Until the day that you will need Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's recompense You'll need his reward Just loan it, go ahead and take it So on the day of judgment, the day of poverty When people will be of need You can collect on those good deeds That have been given to you

**[1:00:15]** Through the hardships that were inflicted upon you As well The reality is that ibadah is not To just worship Allah in peace and private And mashallah I'm in my own corner And the world is great and everybody leave me alone Ibadah is doing what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala

**[1:00:31]** Wants you to do in the moment That he puts you through In the way that the Prophet (ﷺ) Taught you to, that's ibadah Responding the right way That's your submission to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala And so sometimes Allah is going to get you To Jannah through slander

**[1:00:46]** Sometimes Allah is going to get you To Jannah through a really difficult family member Sometimes Allah will get you to Jannah Through a wicked friend That deceived you and betrayed you Sometimes Allah will get you to Jannah Through a disaster with your health Sometimes Allah will get you to Jannah

**[1:01:02]** Through some of these very difficult And inconvenient ways And so at the end of the day You know that's the one that Ibadah is to submit to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala On his terms And the episode of the other side That comes out today is actually about that

**[1:01:18]** How hardship translates into a better life In the hereafter, in the grave And some of the riwayat of the salihin Some of the dreams of the righteous ones Who died and they said that I didn't get to Jannah I'm not in this garden because of something good That I did but because I was patient

**[1:01:34]** With something difficult that I bore And there are people right now There are people right now In gardens in their graves Because they were inflicted And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Widened their garden for them So that right when they died

**[1:01:50]** Here's your garden now So it's not just through qatl Through murder and through these The most extreme manifestations It's through any difficulty That Allah can bring about that ease for you So another question about detachment So we talked about

**[1:02:06]** I don't want to be concerned about these matters You know my life in terms of actually Marriage, money, peace of mind and so on But how can we have a healthy detachment If you take yourself from it It's not healthy either So how can we have a healthy detachment from this I'm still focused on taking care of my spouse

**[1:02:22]** My child, my duty towards my family But at the same time What's the difference? How can I make this Doing it without having The full attachment to it I go back to the hadith of the Prophet (ﷺ) Where he mentions

**[1:02:38]** He says that I love my wives And I love my perfume But he says that I love my perfume But the coolness of my eyes Was put in my prayer The reality is that If you exert yourself enough

**[1:02:54]** In the realm of spiritual pleasure And the pleasure of reading the Quran And the pleasure of doing the right things And the pleasure of feeding That angelic side Or angelic aspirations That those pleasures will naturally Turn the other pleasures

**[1:03:10]** Into secondary pleasures They will halawat al-iman haqiqat al-iman The reality of faith The sweetness of faith Those things are going to become secondary They're not going to disappear

**[1:03:26]** Because they didn't even disappear For the Prophet (ﷺ) And that's what the Prophet (ﷺ) He told those three young men When they went trying to seek What's his life like The Prophet (ﷺ) is someone Who was intimate

**[1:03:42]** But then stood up And was in the intimacy With his wife He says that (ﷺ) To the point that When Aisha has asked What's the most amazing thing You ever saw from the Prophet (ﷺ)

**[1:03:58]** By the way one of my favorite Narrations about the Messenger Of Allah (ﷺ) I imagine myself sitting In the room with her Asking those Sahaba When they asked her this question And she pauses

**[1:04:14]** And the narration about him Was amazing His situation, his affair Was all ajab It was all amazing But she says if I had to point To the most amazing thing about him She says I remember this night

**[1:04:30]** Where he comes to the bed And she says that She gives the visual The Prophet (ﷺ) loved Aisha And the Prophet (ﷺ) lays on his bed Now there is no dull day In the life of the Prophet (ﷺ) There is no busyness

**[1:04:46]** Of the life of the Prophet (ﷺ) So like you know when you Hit the bed after a long Exhausting day She says he immediately Hit the bed And then as Aisha got close to him The Prophet (ﷺ) said to Aisha

**[1:05:02]** Will you permit me To go and be with my Lord Like a little earlier tonight Like I want to start my qiyam Earlier than usual And she says that I said I love what makes you happy More than I love your closeness

**[1:05:18]** It's a beautiful answer of a spouse You can see you know The love and the relationship there I love your closeness But I love I love what makes you happy So go ahead And she says he just got up

**[1:05:34]** And he started his qiyam And the Prophet (ﷺ) was reading And he was reading To the end of the ayah Where he starts reading about The signs of Allah azza wa jalla

**[1:05:50]** And she mentions the tears Of the Prophet (ﷺ) just rolling down Drenching his beard Drenching the place of his sujud Like she's watching this And she's saying That is incredible So she knows that she's loved

**[1:06:05]** And the Prophet (ﷺ) indeed loves her But the pleasure that the Prophet (ﷺ) Was deriving from his qiyam Was greater than any human pleasure Or humanly derived pleasure That comes through our basic interactions And the halal and the tayyib That Allah azza wa jalla has put there

**[1:06:21]** So all I'm saying is In Ramadan you're getting a taste of that Like you're exerting yourself And hopefully you're tasting the sweetness Would you want to be anywhere else Right now than in the masjid Worshipping Allah azza wa jalla The way your soul feels

**[1:06:37]** At the end of a night In these last ten nights The way your spirit feels Are you getting that out of Anything else in your life I think for most of us the answer is no Allah is telling you here's a dose But by the way

**[1:06:53]** This happiness exists throughout the year This sa'adah This contentment Exists throughout the year So long as you stay connected to your Quran Stay connected to your qiyam Stay connected to your prayers This happiness exists throughout the year

**[1:07:09]** And it will make the other pleasures Secondary Put them in a perspective If I may add one more thing To close with this inshallah Is to understand that The pleasure of earning And alhamdulillah getting wealthier

**[1:07:25]** Or winning a bid for example For something Or a startup becoming successful The pleasure of marrying someone You always wanted to marry The pleasure of having a child And the pleasure of all these things People have to understand

**[1:07:41]** This pleasure in order for you To detach yourself from that perspective Is to know that it's not pursued On its own merit No There is an ultimate goal To that pleasure Except for the pleasure of Allah

**[1:07:57]** It's sought for its own merit That's a big difference over here So when you seek something For the sake of Allah I'm enjoying inshallah I made halal for you I'm enjoying starting a family I'm enjoying having pleasure with my spouse I'm enjoying eating this food

**[1:08:13]** I'm enjoying making my workout I'm enjoying it But if you limit that enjoyment To that particular pleasure Then you will get attached to it But if you make enjoyment of this matter Because it brings you closer To Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala

**[1:08:29]** Alhamdulillah it helps me Become a better person And a better inshallah in my ibadah Such as for example Taking care of your spouse If you always remind yourself That I want to make sure to love my spouse The way my spouse should be loved

**[1:08:45]** I want to make sure that they're happy with me Because I know Allah is going to ask me If I've done my part as a family man My children the same thing too When it comes to the money I know I want to earn more So I can give more inshallah for example So if you attach yourself

**[1:09:01]** To the pleasure of that worldly matter That becomes unhealthy Except again Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala And the hereafter, the akhirah That pleasure itself Is sought for its own merit Because for the sake of Allah

**[1:09:17]** If people can differentiate Between these two things Alhamdulillah I hope they will have That good balance between Still enjoy what Allah bless you In matters of the dunya But not as a goal in itself It's only a means to a bigger goal

**[1:09:33]** Higher aspiration Don't ever think that you ever Get to a point where you're worry free When it comes to your worldly things We get fooled into thinking Once I get to this place I'm going to be good You have no idea what's around

**[1:09:49]** The corner for you Something is going to trip you up I can see the light at the end Of the tunnel Just 100 followers But seriously subhanallah You think I'm going to get this I'm going to achieve this

**[1:10:05]** You're making this assumption Like you got the variables And the fixed all wrong Like you're making the assumption That everything else in life is fixed And this is the only variable And once I get this Everything else will stay fixed in its place

**[1:10:21]** And then this will be great But you get there and then this hole suddenly bursts And then the water starts dripping from here And you're like wait You're trying to catch this and catch that That's the image of a person that's doing You're trying to catch the water from falling Subhanallah

**[1:10:37]** And at the same time When I say roll with the punches Roll with the punches with your prayer Roll with the punches but with your prayer But keep recalibrating with that salah With that connection to Allah As you roll with the punches Seeking Allah's reward in the hereafter

**[1:10:53]** Shaykh, jazakallah khair The pleasure of having this discussion with you Is way greater than winning the debate Of the parking spot and the office with you It's not really a debate but okay Jazakallah khair We'll see you tomorrow Tomorrow we're going to be discussing

**[1:11:09]** Chapter 3, page 7 From the book The English Translation Join us Jazakallah khair

## Other Episodes in "Midnight Majlis"
- [Loving the People Who Remember Allah | Midnight Majlis S2 Ep. 7](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/midnight-majlis/midnight-majlis-s2-ep7-loving-the-people-who-remember-allah.md)
- [The Beauty of the Light of Allah | Midnight Majlis S2 Ep. 5](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/midnight-majlis/midnight-majlis-s2-ep5-the-beauty-of-the-light-of-allah.md)
- [Leave Your Nafs Behind and Come to Allah | Midnight Majlis S2 Ep. 6](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/midnight-majlis/midnight-majlis-s2-ep6-leave-your-nafs-behind-and-come-to-allah.md)
- [Freeing Yourself From Other Than Allah | Midnight Majlis S2 Ep. 4](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/midnight-majlis/midnight-majlis-s2-ep4-freeing-yourself-from-other-than-allah.md)
- [Allah Will Love You For Your Dhikr | Midnight Majlis S2 Ep. 3](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/midnight-majlis/midnight-majlis-s2-ep3-allah-will-love-you-for-your-dhikr.md)
- [Your Dhikr Makes You Beautiful | Midnight Majlis S2 Ep. 2](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/midnight-majlis/midnight-majlis-s2-ep2-your-dhikr-makes-you-beautiful.md)
- [When Your Heart Makes Dhikr | Midnight Majlis S2 Ep1](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/midnight-majlis/midnight-majlis-s2-ep1-when-your-heart-makes-dhikr.md)
- [Getting Past A Grudge | Midnight Majlis](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/midnight-majlis/getting-past-a-grudge-midnight-majlis.md)
- [Between Self-Admiration and Self-Hatred | Midnight Majlis](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/midnight-majlis/between-self-admiration-and-self-hatred-midnight-majlis.md)
- [How to Become A Great Person | Midnight Majlis](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/midnight-majlis/how-to-become-a-great-person-midnight-majlis.md)
- [How to Spot Fake Friends | Midnight Majlis](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/midnight-majlis/how-to-spot-fake-friends-midnight-majlis.md)
- [Be Your Own Toughest Critic | Midnight Majlis](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/midnight-majlis/be-your-own-toughest-critic-midnight-majlis.md)
- [When People Cause You Pain | Midnight Majlis](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/midnight-majlis/when-people-cause-you-pain-midnight-majlis.md)
- [You Choose To Be Learned or Lost | Midnight Majlis](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/midnight-majlis/you-choose-to-be-learned-or-lost-midnight-majlis.md)
- [Defeat Your Ego Before It Defeats You | Midnight Majlis](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/midnight-majlis/defeat-your-ego-before-it-defeats-you-midnight-majlis.md)