A Look in the Mirror | Yasmin Mogahed #MASCON2017

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] audhu billah min al shaytan al rajim bismillah ar-rahman ar-rahim salat wa salam ala rasulillah millennium savage mine a bashar alassad rheasilvia marihuana looked at him in the seneca holy first of all i want to express my gratitude I always find it very impressive when I find a room full of humans like ten o'clock in the morning on the first day of a conference so that's really impressive ma'sha'allah that you guys are here and you guys care I think one of the things that's happened in our modern-day society as chief guests have talked about as well there has been a epidemic loss of purpose and meaning and I think that what's happened now is that we we live our lives kind of randomly you know how we say things like oh my god that was so random and we just feel like everything's very random and and there's been this epidemic loss of meaning and purpose and so to get that to actually hold on to that is is very difficult in the time we live in right now because we're all kind of just living you know by the seat of our pants right it's it's everything is just Yolo you know you you only live once you know live it up and and it's this kind of just live moment to moment type of mentality that sort of pushed down our throats and so if you try to resist that and you try to actually live with meaning it is an uphill battle right now especially for young people so I just want to applaud you in that and and tell you that you're on you're in the right direction and I'm there in LA to go against that stream of just you know do what feels good for today you know and and to actually live with purpose and to have a plan of what you're gonna do tomorrow right because the whole idea is to make you only live for today right if you look at the way that things are sold to us if you look at for example the advertisements that we see a Pepsi for example Pepsi's tagline was does anybody know what it was live for now that was that's what it was and then the OL of the now was a Pepsi sign so the idea here this is the type of thing that we're taught is just live for now don't plan for tomorrow live it up Yolo right you'll your own you only live once you're only young once all this kind of all these slogans right and the whole point of that is to make you just not think about planning for tomorrow but that's completely the opposite of what allah subhanaw taala tells us right because allah tells us in the quran the complete opposite he says well well done don't f some math god dammit livet that Allah says tell Allah is addressing the believers and he's saying he's telling us at the beginning of this area to have taqwa yeah yeah you're latina aminal tequila a well-turned or an F some map god dammit LaHood oh you who believe oh you who believe have consciousness of God so that's the first piece of advice or or or command that Allah is giving us in this verse and then after that Allah says and let every person know what they put what they've put forth for tomorrow let everyone see and have a plan of what what is it that you're planning for tomorrow and here the tomorrow isn't just talking about like in 24 hours tomorrow right but this is the tomorrow that's the capital T tomorrow the tomorrow after we leave this life Allah is telling us no matter what age we are that we should have a plan of what we're gonna do when the capital T tomorrow comes it's it's a little bit like a person who's planning on moving have you guys I've removed before homes the raise your hand if you've ever moved in your life everyone has right pretty much we don't we live in a very mobile kind of society right I I have moved every two years so I know about moving and sometimes every year and and so this concept of moving you know you're going to a new address right when you're moving there is a process before you go to the new address where you know that you're moving right okay good just checking that you guys are awake that you know that you're moving but you're still in the old place right you know your new address you know that there is a specific time that you're moving but you're still in limbo right you're in between and that's the process called packing and preparing right okay sometimes it's rhetorical sometimes actually want you to reply so so the point here is that in that process imagine that you know that you're moving so you know you're going to another home and now imagine that instead of moving furniture from your old home to your new home you decide to do the opposite you decide to empty out your future home so say anything that was in there suppose it already had a fridge you take the fridge and you throw it out it already had furniture you take out the furniture and you throw it away and then you decide cuz you're really smart that you're gonna burn it down are you guys following me so you decide that you actually want to burn it down it's your future home but not only taking the furniture out you're burning it down okay so what happens now you guys are still moving there that's not gonna change but what's gonna happen when you get there you just burnt your house down so you actually not only do you have no furniture sometimes some people gonna get them there's no home it's been burnt you understand and that's what a lot of people are doing with their future home that future home that everyone is going to like there's no there's no doubt about it whether or not you're prepared you're still going there you guys get it nobody can argue with the fact that they're going to their grave even an atheist yeah so that's their future home regardless of whether or not they furnished it regardless of whether or not they burnt it down they're going there and every single one of you is going there but the question only has to do with what have you set forth for it what have you furnished in it or have you burn it down do you understand and see when we're moving we prepare that home in fact we put only oftentimes we do this we buy new furniture for that home we leave the old furniture right we bring only the nicest stuff for that new home because that's where I'm going right that's my desk nation and that's the thing is that some of us are furnishing that new home and some of us are burning it down now there is a very very important rule in that whole process that your friends play so now I want to bring it to the topic of company of your friendships and I don't just want to talk about friendship but I want to talk about environment in in in a bigger scale as well all right I'll begin by talking about friendships because at this age I mean I see a lot of young people right now and at this age our relationships our friendships actually our relationships are always important but our friendships are of utmost important especially when we're young and they're also important as we as we grow older but especially when we're young they are our friends become sometimes more influential than our parents and so who you choose to be around i I use the analogy of you know how they tell you you are what you eat anyone ever heard that you are what you eat what does that mean it means that if you eat healthy you're gonna be okay and if you eat unhealthy you're gonna be very simple right what happens if you drink poison on a regular basis just a couple sips for breakfast anyone you might not die right away because you're just taking a couple sips but what have you what are you doing over time to yourself internally you're killing yourself really you're killing yourself so what happens is that our environment our company to be specific sometimes it's like sipping poison the things the people that were around the influence that they have on us and I and I was noticing that you know this this idea and and shiki yes touched upon it that people think oh but I'm not gonna be influenced I'm strong that's like a person saying I can drink I can sip poison I'm not gonna be influenced I'm strong can anyone say that no everyone it will be influenced if they if they sit poison and in the same way your relationships will affect you it's just a fact the profits I seldom said al-marwah al-khalili alladhina connealy so that ab human being is on the same way as their closest companion do you know what that translates to that means that you should pick out your closest companion to be the exact image you want to be does that make sense because the prophets I seldom said that you will be like your closest companion you'll be the same same Dean and Dean doesn't just mean religion by the way Dean just means a way the way that they are and that's why you find that when people are like BFFs they're really really close they actually start to even have the same mannerisms they pick up they pick up the same gestures they they make the same faces you know I'm saying they they laugh at the same stuff do we starts actually morph into the people that we're close to yes or no yeah you do you do you just start to become almost like the same person this is what the prophets I sell him he understood psychology before there was something called psychology right and he's telling us you will be on the way of your closest friend so what does that translate to it means that I should pick my closest friend to be someone that I want to become and if your closest friend is not someone you want to become then you need to sort yourself out because you become that person and let me also add let me also add that it may not be a friend that you physically see as just yesterday looted too and I'm gonna get to that as well it may be someone that you follow religiously online it might be someone that you look up to and you're following every step even what burger they ate that day and that person you start to also become like I found a really strange this is just a personal thing this strange phenomenon that I noticed and that there was like you'd know people who had certain stars whether they were like athletes that they like that was their role model and it's like years and years growing up this was like their role model they actually acted like them like I I started to notice that they would act like them they would gesture like them that you even become like people even if you're not you don't know them but but it's someone you've been following so closely and you admire so much that you start to actually become like them so be very mindful who you take as that closest companion because that's what you become and and I won't you know repeat but the but Shelly Esther also mentioned about the difference between the good company in the bad company the perfume shop and the blacksmith shop that we are influenced by our environment but when I say to you that you are will you eat what did I mean by that I mean that every single thing that you surround yourself with or you take in affects you internally so it's just like food alright what you listen to what you look at what you read what you watch what you talk about all of this think about it as input it's like food that you're putting into your body right and so I ask people to imagine that every time you open your feed your feed meaning your news feed whether it's on Facebook Instagram Twitter snapchat whatever it is imagine that when you open up your feed it's like opening up your fridge that's what you're gonna eat that day okay now can you imagine opening your fridge and here's what's in your fridge some rotten cheese cake covered in mold right a Peet like a burger that's like I don't know by this point it's like toxic some some bottles of poison that's what's in your fridge you open your fridge and that's what's in there so what's gonna happen to you what's gonna happen to you well it doesn't take a genius that's what you're in taking that's your intake right and so that affects you now when a person now you open your newsfeed you have to judge it in the same way that's your fridge that's your fridge you're not passive I need you to understand you are not passive you're not passively intaking you're actively in taking those things you're not just looking at it I need you to understand there's no such thing as I'm just looking whatever you look at it's like you're swallowing it it's like you're eating it because the eyes are a window to the heart that's the way a lot designed it you can't look at something without it affecting your heart same thing with the ears the ears are are an inlet to the heart and so you don't listen to something you're just passive right you're not just looking at that fridge those are the things that you're swallowing does that make sense and so what I ask people to do is number one please find friends that you want to become and that person that you take closest to you make sure it's someone you admire and someone that's actually gonna help you furnish that home that you're going to not someone who's gonna come with a torch and burn it down for you there are friends friends who actually are burning that house for you you guys feel me or you don't feel me at all you feel me they're actually the ones burning that house down but guess what you're the one who's gonna have to go nobody comes to your grave with you you go by yourself to your grave and if your friend is the one who helped you burn it or burn that home you're stuck with it and this is the reason why the people of Hell fire one of the things one of their biggest regrets is gonna be I wish I had not taken so-and-so as a friend I wish I had not taken so-and-so as a friend because the problem is our friendships our companionship affects us deeply and it either helps us build and furnish that home or it helps us burn it down and I'm telling you this because it's in your best interest I don't get anything for whether you're depending on how you furnish your home it doesn't change my home because even the profits I sell em is not held accountable for the results so what about me I don't know nothing all only thing that I am doing right now is telling you what's in your best interest and I'm just trying to help you but it see you have to go there alone your mom can't go with you your friend can't go with you and so it's really all about how you build your own home your final home and believe me your friends have a big part to play in that and and then later on who you take as your spouse because this is gonna become your closest companion at one point be very very mindful that it's someone who's gonna help you build that home not someone who's gonna burn it down now in terms of the the environment that we put ourselves in online now I want to take a moment and talk about that I said that your news feeds like your fridge that's what you're gonna eat all day that's what you're gonna ingest how can we start to make it healthier how can we take out the the molded cheesecake and the really really old burger and the cyanide and maybe replace it with some healthy food maybe some vegetables you know maybe some vitamins and minerals you know like stuff that's gonna make you strong the interesting thing is we're going through a time right now where everyone's talking about or at least in California talking about eating healthy and organic you guys have heard something about that right even though y'all are in the Midwest I grew up in the Midwest I grew up in Wisconsin so I understand but in general there's a movement right now to talk about being more healthy right yes or no no never heard it okay good so now this is what we need but this is what we need spiritually we need to stop to start talking about being more healthy internally because you know what you have to take care of your body but at the end of the day your body is passing away and I and it's an Amana you have to take care of it but at the end of the day your body is passing away can you tell me anyone in this room tell me what's happening to your soul after your body passes away it goes to the barges so it's actually continuing to exist that is a right so your soul continues and your body disintegrates which one do we take better care of generally isn't that ironic does anyone else find the irony in that we take better care of our body than we do our soul even though our body is passing away and our soul is not your soul doesn't actually pass away your soul just moves it moves from one world to another and then from that world to another and then guess what it lives forever like forever capital F that's a lot of time isn't it so it's quite important that you take care of it and I'm telling you that because we live in a social media age right now one of the biggest sources of poison is what we're looking at online what we're following and I'm gonna put aside right now like I'm not gonna get into a filthy discussion about what's harem and what's helot because I'm not qualified to do that but what I I do want to do is I want to just talk about just basic psychology all right what you guys are following it may not be blatantly Haram right it's cool you can learn a million different ways to wrap your head that's awesome right a million different ways to contour your face that's that's awesome lots of different fashion all that stuff I'm not saying any of that is haram to just watch but here's the problem the problem is when that becomes the focus that becomes the focal point the only thing that you're looking at is fashion what somewhat burger what kind of burger someone's eating how all the various ways to wrap your head job all the various ways to do makeup tutorials and somehow everyone ends up looking identical after these tutorials do you ever notice that yeah it's really really bizarre but but my point right now isn't hot on Manhattan mic is what matters most and the thing about psychology is that whatever you are focused on most that what is what becomes central in your life and so a person who's only looking at fashion who's only looking at material things dunya what's this person wearing what's that person eating which parties are they at with you know do you guys get what I'm saying if that's the only thing that you're looking at every single day guess what's gonna be most important to you fashion material things what people are wearing what people are eating that's it and what happens is you've just left what really matters and so my point to you is if you can change what you're looking at every day and make it something a little bit more healthy a little bit more maybe inspiring something that's going to actually help you to build your home something that's going to help you furnish your home then you you will actually be in a better position because now you'll be using social media rather than social media using you you can use it as a tool for either good or bad or just a waste of time lastly because I really do have five minutes left I want to just leave you guys with with some advice some practical advice and I told you guys that you take care of your body we all do and we need to but we've neglected our soul we've neglected that home that we're definitely moving into so I want to just leave you guys with three points of how you can furnish that home and how you cannot just you know improve your own internal being but also be a better friend for others the first thing is the Salah IIIi can't talk to an audience without talking about Silla and the reason for that is Silla is the oxygen that keeps us alive it is the spiritual oxygen of the of the heart and soul and so the Salah will allow you to be able to be healthy in the same way that oxygen allows you to continue to live and if a person is eating organic vegetables and and green juices and they're really really healthy but they're not breathing what's what's gonna happen to them come on you guys don't have to be a doctor you're gonna die if you don't breathe right and it doesn't matter how healthy or your food is so the Salah is that basic oxygen that keeps you alive number two I'm gonna ask everyone to download an app onto their phone called my job it spelled my dua a and what it is is it's a collection of the supplications of the prophets Allah I am from the Quran and from the Sunnah that he would say throughout his day now this might seem like okay what's the big deal it's really a big deal it's really a big deal because what this app does is its equivalent to that those vitamins and minerals and food and water that you put in your body but it's spiritual every time you're reading these supplications you are making your internal health stronger now I'm just gonna tell you this when you download this app by the way best 99 cents you'll ever spend and no I don't get a cut when you download this app you open up on the side there's gonna be a few there's by the way there's an there's a supplication for every motion of life and the more you can incorporate in your life the healthier you'll be psychologically emotionally spiritually in every other li but what you have to do like there are certain supplications you can't live without and they are the morning supplications the evening supplications and the ones before you sleep make sure that these you're getting off your app even if you aren't doing the rest but make sure at least you're doing those and then over time you can learn the small ones right you leave the house there's a small door you come back in the house remember Allah these things are life-changing but let me just before I end tell you about the morning and evening you go to this app the good the good thing about this app is there's this thing called a star you can star the supplications that you want to do because there's like 25 of them it might take you an hour and never do it again it's better for you to make a small list and to be consistent because the prophets I seldom said that the that Allah loves the actions that are that are consistent well o alcohol even if they're small if you guys want to get in shape if you want to get in shape and you go to the gym for eight hours and then don't go again for six months is that gonna work out no but if you do the seven minute workout by the way it's scientifically proven seven minutes every other day you're actually gonna find results but if but that's because consistency is how Allah designed the world that consistency is what brings results so even if it's a few you star them that becomes your start list but you are consistent you will find that it will have a profound effect lastly is the Quran stay connected to the Quran and that means it doesn't need to be like a just a day or something but just even if it's one area but you're connected and you're understanding what you're saying and and and you're trying your best to reflect and and live by it and also the the hadith and the Sunnah as it relates to the Quran try as much as you can even if it's a little bit every day to stay connected to that I'm cooling Holly Holly welcome in olefin rahim subhanak elohim deck Shannon Allah he lenses dr. Okoye to Blake just a quick announcement I do have just a limited a few copies of my book I have my new book love and happiness this is the new edition of reclaim your heart which is it includes four new chapters two about tell what good love of God and finding God jazakallah khair santa monica repent Allah [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: MASICNAConvention

Views: 372,502

Rating: 4.9175978 out of 5

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Id: sc2lOdA4W5Q

Length: 26min 19sec (1579 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 22 2018