# Ep. 2: Finding Peace | Road to Return

**Author:** Yahya Ibrahim
**Series:** Road to Return | How to Come Back from Sin
**Published:** 2021-06-15
**YouTube:** https://youtu.be/4EiNBZxAOjU
**URL:** https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-2-finding-peace-road-to-return
**Topics:** Acts of Worship, Sharia

## Description
The greatest form of contentment is internal peace, rida. It is not material things, external circumstances, or the assuaging of our egos that bring us happiness; it is the internal state of contentment that we cultivate within ourselves through God.

## Transcript
**[0:00]** There's this really cool poem that I enjoy and it's in Arabic and allow me to translate parts of it for you. So the poet he says, you know, you're inside, inside you. It hates the fact that you might not get everything you want, everything you desire, or that you experience

**[0:19]** poverty. Perhaps not having everything you want is better than having everything you want that allows you to transgress and feel that you have no limits. Whatever I want, I can have at any time.

**[0:47]** He goes on to say, the true enrichment, the true joy, the greatest content you will have in life is to be able to appreciate whatever you have in life to its fullest.

**[1:03]** If you can't train yourself to be appreciative of the large and the small, then everything in this world, if it was given to you, you still are going to want more. Learn to find peace with all conditions inside yourself. You will feel like a king.

**[1:31]** Even if your kingdom is just that you have a good night's sleep and a good rest and a happy environment around you. What's the meaning of that poem? Well, it means to me a certain number of things. And I hope it's something that you can kind of reflect on whether you're young or

**[1:46]** old. That what are the things that we value so much? They're usually things that other people we assume value. So you want to have something not just because it's going to give you joy, but you want to be able to kind of show other people that you have it. So you're trying to

**[2:02]** live your life through other people's eyes. So if I got these pair of sneakers or I got these new Jordan ones, by the way, I love Jordans. I got a few myself. I'm not saying don't have the nice things in life. You got to have nice things in life because that makes you happy as well. But

**[2:20]** that isn't the secret to happiness. Meaning that if I don't have it or if something happens to them or I misplace them or lose them, or I couldn't afford it at a certain period of time, it doesn't mean that I can't find joy in other things. Why? Because I'm not looking at it through other

**[2:37]** people's eyes who I want to observe me and to judge me as being a little bit higher just because I got that thing. And that comes back to the ego and how we kind of view things in the world. We're going to talk about the ego and its place in making us susceptible or likely to fall into errors and

**[2:58]** sins. Ego is that inside feeling that you have where you may feel jealousy, you may feel pride. How dare they say that about me? You may feel levels of anger, levels of hostility, where you may feel that other people are judging you or other people are, you know, looking at you in a

**[3:19]** way that you don't feel is right. All of those are things that relate to your ego and how you value yourself and the value you put on yourself. One of the best things that you can do is to strip away as much of it from where you believe other people value you from. And in fact, you will see a lot of

**[3:38]** social media, for example, Instagram. Now, you'll notice that they took off the likes before when somebody liked your photo, it'll say how many likes and people were doing crazy things to get more and more likes, which really wasn't good for their health, really wasn't good for their mental

**[3:54]** health and their ability to judge right and wrong. So Instagram and Facebook, they took that away because they knew it's self-destructive. Why? It's making you feel happy, not because of what you're doing, but what you experience from other people. And the greatest joy that you will have is being

**[4:15]** able to enjoy from the inside out. And that's what Islam says. Islam wants us to connect to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, that in whatever condition we are, we have Rida with Allah. In the next session, I'm going to speak to you about being content with Allah, content with Islam

**[4:34]** and content with our Nabi Muhammad Sallallahu alayhi wasallam as our messenger.

## Other Episodes in "Road to Return | How to Come Back from Sin"
- [Ep. 40: Fake News | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-40-fake-news-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 39: It's Just a Joke | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-39-its-just-a-joke-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 38: Friday Prayer Is Not Practical | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-38-friday-prayer-is-not-practical-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 37: What Happens Online Stays Online | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-37-what-happens-online-stays-online-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 36: I'm Not A Racist, But... | Road To Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-36-im-not-a-racist-but-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 35: I Will Never Forgive Them | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-35-i-will-never-forgive-them-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 34: Isn't Zakat Like Sadaqah? | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-34-isnt-zakat-like-sadaqah-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 33: The Most Important Thing is Love | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-33-the-most-important-thing-is-love-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 32: Everyone is Doing It | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-32-everyone-is-doing-it-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 31: It’s Just a Video | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-31-its-just-a-video-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep: 30 Always Put Yourself First | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-30-always-put-yourself-first-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep 29: Marijuana is Not a Drug | Road To Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-29-marijuana-is-not-a-drug-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 28: God Knows my Intention | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-28-god-knows-my-intention-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 27: I Do Pray...Just Not Often | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-27-i-do-pray-just-not-often-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 26: Did You Hear? | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-26-did-you-hear-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 25: Does God Really Care? | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-25-does-god-really-care-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 24: Just say Bismillah | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-24-just-say-bismillah-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 23: Parents Just Don't Understand | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-23-parents-just-dont-understand-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 22: Why Do They Have It So Easy? | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-22-why-do-they-have-it-so-easy-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 21: Going Against The Flow | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-21-going-against-the-flow-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 20: Hoping For The Best Without Doing Your Best | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-20-hoping-for-the-best-without-doing-your-best-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 19: Good Intentions With Wrong Actions | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-19-good-intentions-with-wrong-actions-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 18: Good Actions With The Wrong Intention | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-18-good-actions-with-the-wrong-intention-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 17:  Letting The Qur'an Slip | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-17-letting-the-quran-slip-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 16: Resisting the Teachings of Muhammad ﷺ | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-16-resisting-the-teachings-of-muhammad-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 15: Deprioritizing God | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-15-deprioritizing-god-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 14: Resistance & Resilience | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-14-resistance-resilience-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 13: Shaytan's 6-Step Plan  | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-13-shaytans-6-step-plan-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 12: No Good Without Evil | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/no-good-without-evil-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 11: Mastering Self-Control | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-11-mastering-self-control-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 10: The World And Its Splendor | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-10-the-world-and-its-splendor-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 9: An Enemy Within | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-9-an-enemy-within-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 8: Your Inner Voice | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-8-your-inner-voice-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 7: Four Dangers: Causes of Sin | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-7-four-dangers-causes-of-sin-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 6: Different Types of Sin | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-6-different-types-of-sin-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 5: Are All Sins Equal? | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-5-are-all-sins-equal-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 4: What Are Sins? | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-4-what-are-sins-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 3: Content with God | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-3-content-with-god-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 1: Submitting to God | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-1-submitting-to-god-road-to-return.md)
- [Trailer: Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/road-to-return-trailer.md)