Happiness, Fun and Pleasure by Nouman Ali Khan. 2013 ICNA-MAS Convention

assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh but honda lillahi rabbil alameen wa sallahu wa salam ala sayyidi l-mursalin wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma'in some bad flu billahi min ash-shaytani r-rajim animo animal-hair to dunya even voila hoon was he not on whatever foreign by Nakamura Catherine film wali well dad came easily - aw far Inaba - who - Maya he jus Vitara Hamas Farah - Maya who know who Tom waffle as karate audubon Shadid well mafia 2 min allahi wa it one woman higher to dunya Allah metal or rubbish miss Audrey were silly MD worked at a mill this any of kolya mini rabbul aalameen if i can accomplish in the next 20 or less minutes sharing with you some lessons from just one ayah of the quran I think I've done my job this is an ayah that belongs to Salutin Hadid wait hold on he wants to go that way and he's crying and you brought him to the stage okay it's okay it's okay alright what was I talking about how many I automate auke bout just one belongs to Surat al-hadid Solar number 57 of the Quran which is a Medini surah which means that the predominant subject of the surah is addressing the Muslim community there are suitors of the Quran that are Medini in which predominantly the subject matter is addressing all of humanity because it was an invitation to all of humanity but then there are places in the Quran especially in Medina Quran where there the Muslim community is the primary audience they're the ones listening you can't hear me I'm sorry that's all I can do okay so now in this Medina surah what allah azzawajal gives us is a summary of the things we run after in life and he begins by saying elimo you had better known you had better know it's a commandment from Allah for something for us to realize but the things he says are really obvious but perhaps there are things that we don't take into consideration when living out our lives he says Adamo animal Hayato duniya worldly life amounts to nothing more than play I didn't understand this ayah properly enough until I became a father myself as our children are growing up there are needs and there are wants we all know that and our children when they're born all they have our needs they need to drink their milk they need to poop they need to get some sleep and the cycle begins again but as they get a little bit bigger a want comes into play my child who's six months old nine months old a year old they really want to play they want to be held thrown up and down tickled they can't just sit there and eat food and go to sleep they want a message they want to play peek-a-boo they want to play it's a desire naturally that comes into a child I used to I remember like a crazy incident that reminded me of this ayah there's a place in America that every sister here knows about it's almost a religious obligation on Muslim sisters to go once a week to target right so I was fulfilling my religious obligation taking my family to target and I was in charge of our at that time you know our first son well need or Ahmad rather I forget names all the time now I just call him number three number four sorry for come here you know so anyway Ahmad was like 2 years old at the time and you know boys when you take them to the grocery store they just want to knock everything over in the aisle because it's really entertaining for them to watch you pick it up and put it back so I need to keep him busy so I go to the toy section and there's this giant ball huge was bigger than him so I take it out and I say you do this son so he takes the thing he kicks it and he goes over a little bit more and he kicks it and he goes over a little and he did pull off of the entire target this way it was awesome I didn't have to do anything I just have to follow him around and he's getting exhausted he's sweating the diaper is starting to smell suspicious but he still and he kicks it one more time and he falls to the floor he's sitting on his bottom like this and he shirring at the ball and he's breathing heavy like I'm coming I'm coming you know and he gets up and he goes and he's about to kick it again until my wife found out and she picked him up and she what are you doing and he he goes in her arms passes out the second he gets in her arms because the most important thing to him at that point was what play it's a phase we go through in life but then a new problem is added to our lifestyle Allah says Allah WA Nimal hiya to dunya Larry 1 y la 1 and and things that are pastimes la who is actually used for things that aren't technically useful but they are entertaining they're entertaining at they get your mind off of work that's called la who technically our children get a little older it's not just games it's not just you know peekaboo and you know let's play tag or hide-and-seek now you want to add something more and we call that entertainment tell me a story about hey can i watch some kind of watch the show can i watch Sesame Street we watch Sesame Street it's okay I have a football but anyway so you know can't watch Sesame Street can we watch this can you watch that can you tell me a story now that's not playing what is that That's Entertainment so next phase it's a new desire that's been added to the Arsenal and of course that entertainment and game playing and entertainment combined together is now the new video game industry right there are stories and there are a gameplay that are combined together and of course the biggest consumers of those things are children and of course the you know huge consumers within the Muslim community are children that are buying video games that are way below way above their age level so nc-17 video game your 8 year old is coming to you and telling you mama I really need to get Grand Theft Auto for ade and if you just get me this one video game lacunae na minha saliheen we will be among the righteous if you just get this one game for me I promise I'll fast every day etc etc so now there was games and there was entertainment Allah adds a third dimension was inna tone and beautification beauty itself does yean surely means beautification zina means beauty itself Beauty itself becomes an obsession you know what that means that means puberty hits that means you become a teenager that means you start seeing become really obsessed with how you look when you were 10 years old 9 years old you didn't care if your shoes didn't match you didn't care how you got dressed you didn't care how anybody else dressed but now that you're 13 years old sister you spend 45 minutes in front of a mirror fixing your hijab and one side of your head job is higher than the other and you're slapping your head as hard as you can and it's not going down and your mother's knocking on the door saying is that meeting okay yes mom it's okay etc and then on the other side you have guys they can't grow facial hair but they really think they can so they're staring really hard in the mirror it's coming it's coming I see one right and then there's the guys that have the whole beard but they want to make the perfect pencil you see those things so work of art it's so fine work of engineering and they'll spend a lot of time doing that even the guy that's like shaved as head and he's bald is checking himself out in the mirror going like this I've seen young men walk to the Masjid they're walking to the mushes four Jawara and they stop and check themselves out in every cars reflection it is so entertaining especially if you're sitting in the car and they don't know it's really a lot of fun but anyway xena beautification it becomes an obsession you just want you want to look beautiful you want you're attracted to others that are beautiful you want to be in a beautiful looking car you don't invite people to your house if you don't think it looks beautiful if your dad drives one of these old busted Chevy's or something you ask him to drop you off three blocks before the high school you would rather lock it rather than be seen in that thing right because you're obsessed with beauty with fashion with clothes with interior design you start decorating your room at that age you start it you know you want to get a car you want to get a nice looking you don't care if it's functioning well or not you want a nice looking phone and then you want a nice cover on it too this is Xena it's an age you go through and then this passes to because if you see a point comes you become college students high school age passes your college students now you'll notice college students look like homeless people a lot of times right the hairs all over the place they don't brush their teeth I show up to class just sitting there and t-shirt and pajamas or whatever there's a roll out of bed and go to class they don't care all they care about is graduating really serious students all they care about is the GPA you know and that you know the internship or whatever else right and why do they care about that because a new desire has now taken place and I'm not saying that the previous desires disappear what were the previous desires in order can you tell me what was number one playing what was number two entertainment what was number three beauty here's number four showing off to each other what a forum by now Chrome you want to be able to tell someone you mean something so you go somebody comes over to you and they're asking you for directions to the convention and you're like yeah and I study at NYU I just need to know where the Convention Center is med school actually voting is you just get your job you get your first job and they offer you a you know a job ID like you maybe your job you got to have a prestigious company I don't know Walmart or something but you know you get your job and they give you your badge and you stick it out you make sure you stick it out so people see oh you work there oh yeah yeah they give me give me a parking lot parking spot in the parking lot I took a picture of it here check it out you know there's a pride you want to show people what you've accomplished when people graduate what do they get they get a diploma and what do they do with their diploma they stick it in a drawer somewhere where nobody will see it what do they do and put it up on the wall so people walk in and they see it it's your pride you want to show people what you've done people take a picture with a famous person and they want to show others hey look look look at that like that i honest to god I feel like a statue sometimes at this convention people come over brother come here I need a picture with you the guy doesn't even see Salaam man a picture with you and I get scared okay don't hurt me yell you can take a picture but anyhow so now we're at the point where your desire is to show people what school you go to how where you graduated from what job you have your first apartment your first car a car is about showing people what you got right you want you have that innate desire and Allah put that in us there's something in us and people want to especially young people they're coming out of the cocoon they're not under their family anymore so now they want to show the fact that they're grown adults and they're living on their own so it somehow comes up that they have their own apartment even if nobody asked it just comes up because they're really proud of the fact that they're living on their own all they're really proud of the fact that they're least their first car or something and it just kind of slips up and it comes up even though nobody's interested right that so now this stuff our my nakum is added to the mix you still really like games you still like entertainment you still have a sense of beautifying yourself and being attracted to beauty but now add to that you want to sell show yourself to others and then even that age passes you stop can you get married you have kids and once you have how many people here have kids okay now you know what I'm talking about all you can think about is what the kids it's all you can think about what they need do we have groceries enough for breakfast tomorrow is are their uniforms ready for school what is the some you know when is summer vacations starting where we can't live in this apartment anymore we need to move into a house because there's too many kids now and we don't have space anymore the bills you know the clothes the changing shoe sizes constantly the hand-me-downs aren't working anymore you know because your son is refusing to wear the pink sneakers his older sister wore once you know etc so you have to buy new ones now but now there's a mutually shared concern about making money and stabilizing your wealth for yourself and your children so you're constantly checking bank account you have the mobile app and you log in every few hours and check it still there let me check again it's still there okay all right it's still there way it went down a little bit oh my god automatically the gas company took out the money and it burns every time you see that - ha ha you know Allah says what a Kathryn Phil I'm Wiley well hola then a mutually shared urge to have stability in money and stability in children now so far and by the way as you get to that age when you worry about money so much in a house and savings and retirement account and all this other or college savings for your kids young people that are still in the earlier stages of desire earlier stages are what clean entertainment you talk to them about savings amount about savings are you talking about I'll never be like my parents I don't care about a house I don't care about this or that and talk to me in 20 years you will go through the same cycle that so many thousands and millions before you have gone generation after generation after generation allah summarizes the things we run after that we think will make us happy that we think will make us happy here's all of it a child thinks they'll be happy when they play a little older when they can entertain a little older when they feel beautiful and they get something beautiful and now around them things are beautiful a little older than when they can show off that they've accomplished something and a little older when they feel like they have financial stability people around the world doesn't matter what religion they have when they buy a house they look back and they say I've accomplished something and if they haven't bought a house you ask them what do you want man I wish I owned the property I wish I hope you know they drive by they live in an apartment they're driving by a nice house even a small house and their eyes can't help but go and the mind wander wanders man if I was I had a place like that that'd be nice oh they'll be pretty nice you know you can't help yourself but go to real estate websites and check out houses you know you're thinking about moving to another city you've got three four years before even move but you're already looking at houses and pictures and you're calling the Whiteman saying hey look at this one look at the bedrooms in this one wow look at the outside of this one and you can't help yourself you're in that there's something a lot put inside you now this is half the ayah which is good because I have reached half my time this is half the ayah in this half Allah just describes what are the things you and I are running after that we share in the second half Allah compares it to something and I hope you can pay close attention I know the sound systems got a lot of echo I hope you can pay attention to the second part because this is where the guidance is from Allah Azza WA JAL on these pursuits of happiness this is where the guidance is he says come Anthony - jamele Kafar Inaba - who it is like heavy rain now the word for arabic in arabic for rain is mother mother is rain life means perfect rain it's not so much that the land would flood and it's not so little that the plants won't grow it is perfect in quantity that kind of rain is called life that is why when we ask Allah for rain we made the Salafist ilaha is the author why because we're asking not just for any kind of rain we're asking for - we're asking for the right kind of rain because the wrong kind of ring can be dead it can be a flood it can kill you it could rain unlucky and rain five stones from the sky - you want a life rain that brings life so Allah says the example of the things you run after is like perfect rain Japan who fallen about - who the farmer who planted the seed in the ground is so happy because of the produce of that rain now there's an image here the farmer in this ayah is called or the farmers are called COFA now you know what Kafar means in your general vocabulary what does cafard mean unbeliever disbeliever not in this ayah in this ayah of certain hadid Kafar are the people who berry seeds in the ground that's what the literal meaning of Kafar is people who berry seeds in the ground a calf and berries inside himself that's why it's called a Garfield anyhow farmers do a lot of things in the year but what's the first thing they have to do plant the seed that's the first thing then later on they have to take care of the soil they have to make sure it gets enough water they have to make sure it doesn't get invested and infected they have to do all and make sure it gets enough Sun all of these things but the first thing they have to do and the hardest part of their work is when they are go far when they are planting the seed Alora first has that why because that is the hardest work and that is when you don't see any fruits of your labor you don't know if these seeds are good or not you don't know if the insects will come and eat everything or not you don't even know if it's gonna rain or not you don't know anything and unlike you and me I refer to this all the time if you have a job you get a paycheck twice a week but maybe twice a month right twice a month you get a paycheck or maybe weekly how many times does a farmer get paid once a year once in an entire year he has to work the entire year and then he gets the fruits of his labor maybe maybe he has to work for sure he may or may not get now the guy goes to sleep after stressful weeks and weeks of planting seeds in the ground and he goes to sleep and he wakes up one day and he looks out his window and it's perfect rain is he happy he's happy huh and he's hurt he starts seeing in a field of brown he starts seeing little dots of green they're not full grown plants yet when the farm matures the stalks are so high if they're taller than him but right now it's just little tiny dots of green but even that is making him super happy he's super happy then Allah says sumaya he jus then that plant matures when it matures I told you is even taller than him now when a plant matures what is the next logical step for a farmer I know you guys aren't farmers maybe some of you are I don't know any people from Ohio and Isles I don't know what do you do wonder when the plant reaches maturity your crop you harvest you cut that's what you're supposed to do but the ayah is very strange Allah does not say that he yelled that he cuts it he actually says Fattah who must not run you will watch it turn yellow you will watch it turn yellow now this is important to understand any farmer who is not insane will never let his farm turn yellow he will still cut it when it is green when it's still fresh when it's yellow it's already dead it's already on its way to death and he says don't lie upon orful pollen then it will turn into Photon Pathan means things that are crusty on the ground that you pay no attention to that you walk by and you step on them and it makes a crunchy sound and you don't even realize you've stepped on anything worth worth anything like dried-up leaves if you step on a dried-up leaf you don't think twice about it you go oh I'm sorry you don't do that because you don't care it's just you know meaningless crust that's all it is Obama is literally things that are stepped on without any consideration Allah says in this example this is the example for you and me to understand our life I haven't explained the example yet I've only walked you through its pieces I have 58 seconds can I have five more minutes no fine yeah I promise it's not like Imam said I'd watch just five minutes listen you're not getting the mic again so I could talk like this alright so I have five minutes in these five minutes what was the first desire play before a child gets to play you took your child to Toys R Us bad idea but you took him you took him to Toys R Us his eyes are looking at that Toya on the shelf he's in the cart but his eyes are glazed and when you change the aisle his head turns and his arm moves out and he's already imagining the moment when he's what he's holding this thing and he's playing with it and he's smashing his face into it and all kinds of fun things he's already played it all out in his head and he bets you off on that one that one and so you grab Captain America and you put him in the cart and you go to the aisle and you buy him Captain America but you tell him don't take it out until we get to the house now he's got the bag in his hand Hey look he's sitting in the back car seat he's looking in the back looking in the back he takes it out mama can I open it no I said no and now he's in anticipation oh my god I can't wait till Oh awesome you have to make a video of your child holding a toy that they haven't opened yet and make sure you make it last because that is the happiest few minutes your child will have with that toy it is like that farmer who is so nervous is it gonna rain is it gonna rain is it gonna rain when it rains he's super happy he hasn't even seen the farm crop yet he hasn't been seen in mature yet but he's still happy cuz I can't wait this is gonna be awesome I'm gonna get paid he's already thinking about where he's gonna spend the money everything so this kid is excited and then finally he opens the toy and he plays it with it for about our total I'll give you three hours give or take three hours where do you find the toy after that under the bed where's your toy I don't know you gave me you never got me Iron Man I only got Captain America I never got I never got I wanted Iron Man in a matter of minutes this thing that was such an object of my child's desire is now worthless what did Allah described as worthless the farm you was such a big deal to you and when you got it you didn't read its benefits it just became worthless to you your child asked you for Grand Theft Auto he was crying he was making clear almond lane he went to the Masjid on the 27th night yeah la anything this game I needed I promised I'll finish it within a week I'll be all of it I promise and he got it any beaten and then you wake up one day and it's under your feet in the valve in the kitchen what does the CD doing here didn't you buy this game yeah beat it already was boring it's kind of the last one was better entertainment this happens there are people that when new movies come out in the summer there are people that have lines longer than the ones for passports for hudge waiting outside to watch the next movie I remember back in the day there was when Star Wars was coming out people were dressed in Jil fits man outside dog you know they're like in their own around outside waiting for the gates to general open and they go and they watch and they come out in the leg are the special effects were kind of cheap I didn't like the plot it was kind of lame booooo you desired it so much and over in no time it became worthless to you then those of you that wanted to get a nice car maybe you been looking at the Acura NSX I don't know I've been looking at the m3 or something and you get the car and it is sweet man you drive a little extra slow outside your school you know you go to the car wash a little too many times but then the next year's model came out and the headlights went from here to here and your car looks so ugly all of a sudden it is so irrelevant on the road makes you angry to be in this car now it became worthless to you this happens to our adults in their homes they get you know I fifty seconds oh my god they buy a house anybody who comes to the house you give them a full tour you even show them the boiler room this is our bathroom this is our second bathroom this is our third bathroom nobody wants to see your bathroom unless you know okay not anyway no one wants to see your bathroom but you give them a full tour cuz it's a new house you're so excited two years go by three years go by somebody invites you to their housewarming party it's in a nicer neighborhood it's a bigger house it's newer they have nicer bathrooms too and what starts happening oh my god your house just turned yellow you see what I mean I'm saying the toy turns yellow the car turns yellow some people's marriages turn yellow the first day you got married how excited were you to see your wife don't tell me it's having flashbacks calm down okay ten years go by and you come home the day you came home and saw your wife for the first time you went to work for the first time and came home and saw your wife for the first time is a different feeling ten years later you come home and you look at her and she looks at you and it's beautiful just like the first day no it's not something's turning yellow I often tell the story that you're walking with your wife like the week you got married you're walking with your wife and she trips brand new wife she dreamed what do you do oh are you okay are you alright I don't want anything ever to happen to you then ten years go by and you're walking down the same street and she trips again you keep on Lockett haha you keep on going you turn back and you say pick yourself up woman I can't even take you in public nowadays what is wrong with you anyway so marriages can start turning yellow no not that one but a lot of it tells us that all of the things that we want so badly will become a will start losing interest in them and then he says in the concluding remarks of this ayah within a scale at the audubon Shadid will not fail at 2 min allahi what at 1 and at the very end is either eternal into intense punishment that is the only thing that won't you won't get used to the punishment of Jahannam is not something anybody will never get used to the desires of this world and even the pain of this world you can get used to but that desire and that pain you will not get used to and then he says well mouth hello to Manama and forgiveness from allah meaning that is permanent and then finally he adds what it one and he did not say in his eloquence he did not say what it won't mean a lot he just said what it 1 which means incredible contentment you will finally be satisfied you will not look for the next thing in this world I don't care if it's Superman or Iron Man or whatever movie you want to watch you will come out of it waiting for the next one you will not come out satisfied sorry sorry it says please stop in red I really gotta stop right okay I promise I'm stop messing this did turn out to be mom sahaja Hodges five minutes sorry I love him too much I got to follow in his footsteps anyway well Montferrat don't mean Allah he what did one that you will have contentment you will be at peace finally in general we will be at peace you're not going to be at least here we're always going to be looking for the next thing until dirt fills our stomachs until that happens and so Allah says well hiya to dunya in mataró one ayah just one eye of silikal Hadi what is worldly life it amounts to nothing but means by which people get deceived people think they will find happiness and they don't people think they love their new big giant house when they're 90 years old and their kids have moved out that house is out for them it's not a joy for them anymore young people go to that house and say I wish I could live here and old people living in the house say I wish I could get rid of this thing I don't want to be here so how Allah Allah Azza WA JAL help us recognize what true happiness what it really means and may he helped us materialize that true happiness through real faith in him and through real expectations from Allah so at a bar ik allahi walakum wa-salaamu alaikum wa you

Channel: ICNA

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Keywords: icna, islam, muslims, whyislam, GainPeace, muslim, family, day, young, ym, icna.org, icnarelief, ilf, islamic, Nouman Ali Khan (Person)

Id: QrOXQ2ycU50

Length: 30min 15sec (1815 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 24 2013