Increasing Faith in Difficult Times for Muslim Youth - Dr. Bilal Philips

[Applause] [Music] al hamdulillah rabbul aalameen was salatu was-salam ala rasoolillah Kareem while Ali was hobby oh man extend a bassoon neti he lay on me Dean all praise is due to Allah and may allows peace and blessings be on the last prophet muhammad sallallaahu I will sell them and all those who follow the path of righteousness until the last day this afternoon's topic increasing faith in difficult times assumes that we know what is faith and actually for us to be able to look about increasing it we need to know what it is so first and foremost we need to know what constitutes faith and faith as is generally defined according to Islam scholars of Islam it is expressed as belief in the heart a statement made by the tongue and action upon by the limbs or we could call it action on the pillars of Islam what constitutes Islam so it begins with belief in the heart that it should have a basis in our heart meaning that it is not just something said by the tongue the statements made which are only on our tongues our ritual statements they are traditional statements the things we say and we do but we really don't believe in them we do them for cultural reasons for political reasons for a variety of different reasons this is not faith whatever comes after that cannot be faith so it has to be in the heart that's what keeps it sincere we all know the importance of sincerity Allah told us Omar emiru in larly Abudu la mochila Sinaloa did I only commanded you to worship Allah making the religion sincere for him so sincerity is the essence of faith for it to be real faith it should be sincere and that's where we have to start questioning ourselves is our faith from the heart or is it just a habit that we have been doing and saying from the time we were children our parents taught us we repeated what they said we went to school and they further taught us and that's what we have been doing we never once questioned is it real is it real is it from me from inside my heart or is it just a habit I have inherited from my family my parents my teachers etc then we know from Islamic law for a person to become Muslim it is required that they express la ilaha illallah muhammadur rasulullah isn't it it's not acceptable that you just keep it in your heart say you had lillah and allah mohammed rasoolallah you understood that but you just kept it in your heart you never said it then faith is not complete Islam requires you to say it why because if we don't say it one people won't know that we're Muslims will be a Muslim in hiding and the importance of knowing that we're Muslims is that the rest of Muslims can help us and we can help Muslims when we know when they know we are Muslims and we have made ourselves known so if for example when our faith is low and we find ourselves being drawn into Haram and other Muslims see us going where we shouldn't be going they will stop us and say brother sister where are you going why are you going there you don't need to be going there you know you're almost live so they'll be there to help you similarly they can call on you when they need help they know you are Muslim you're somebody who can be called on so it is something which makes you a part of the Muslim community so it is established as a point of faith in Islam you must say it unless there are special circumstances in which your life is threatened we all know about Anna Joshi everybody knows about that ma Joshi right the ruler of Ethiopia who accepted Islam but his people didn't know he hid it from them he hid it from them in order to be able to protect the Muslims the Muslims who had migrated there if he had said that he was a Muslim the Christians would have killed him his people would have killed him and he would not have been able to provide help security for the Muslims that had fled there in the first he drew the first migration of Muslims from Makkah was to Abyssinia to Ethiopia so he hid his Islam not out of fear of death for himself and that's also permitted you know if your father says to you if I ever hear you become a Muslim I'll kill you okay you can keep your Islam hidden it's permissible but this wasn't this case he here is Islam in order to be able to protect the group of Muslims some of them were relatives or the Prophet SAW Salaam who had come there seeking refuge so outside of those kinds of circumstances where your life is threatened then you should express your faith your belief on your tongue and then it should be followed by actions you have to act on it you have to bring it to life in your actions and those are the pillars of Islam they are manifest in your actions it is doing the five pillars of Islam understanding believing in the six pillars of Iman it is living Islam it is putting Islam into action that's really slow if we are not putting Islam into action you know you have people who say my Islam is not external I don't wear it like a badge it's in my heart it's between me and Allah I don't need to show anybody people say that but those are the people who are not practicing Islam they've been deluded by Shaitaan into thinking that it's possible to be a Muslim without practicing Islam that Islam is only what's in your heart but we said yeah it begins in your heart but if it doesn't end up in action then it means what you have in your heart is knowledge and not faith it's knowledge you know of Allah but you really don't believe in him because had you believed in him it would have been expressed in your actions in obedience that's what it means obedience to him so your faith becomes what may be called satan iblees he knew allah that was in his heart he knew Allah he had the knowledge of Allah meaning he knew about Allah not Allah is knowledge right he knew about the law but the point is knowing about the law was not enough so when the time came to implement that knowledge when he was tested commanded to prostrate before Adam what did he do disobeyed and his disobedience turned into arrogance and his arrogance turned into Kufra disbelief that's what happened in the end so that's why we say that belief without knowledge belief without knowledge on one hand is blind that was the ritual faith we didn't really have proper knowledge of it and if you think that Christians and Hindus don't have belief don't have faith they do but it's false Christians believe believe very strongly maybe more strongly than many Muslims Hindus likewise believing very strongly committed to their religion but they don't have the correct knowledge and that is why faith actually must be preceded by knowledge to have the right faith in our hearts we have to have the right knowledge right knowledge of what what I'm asking you what's the right knowledge knowledge of what huh but most simply of knowledge of Allah that's where it starts from we need to know who Allah is that's your starting point knowing who is Allah if you don't have that knowledge then you will never understand why Allah is uniquely one why he is the one true God your idea about God will be that he is three and one God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Spirit or you will be having the idea that he is a cow like a billion Hindus and so on and so forth you will not know who God is so therefore your faith will not be right but you have faith you have conviction you have sincerity but sincerity about what sincerity about worshipping a man who you thought was God is out of any use that's of no use so faith has to have the correct belief based on knowledge about Allah and that's why in surah muhammad verse 19 allah says their phylum and the hoola inhale Allah know that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah you have to know that if we don't know it then we will end up worshipping others besides Allah and Prophet Muhammad SAW Salam was reported by Osman digna a fan by saying man mata wah Hawaii Alamo and the hoola ilaha illallah Dussel and Jenna whoever dies knowing that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah will enter paradise that is the promise of the prophet sallahu said whoever dies knowing that being certain about it will enter paradise now it doesn't mean that they may not end up in hell for a period of time because if one's evil deeds are greater than one's good deeds still knowing that only Allah to be worshipped he may be punished or she may be punished for some time but eventually they will be taken out of the Hellfire and they will enter paradise but you know when the Sahaba heard this they said should we tell the people this oh ya Rasulullah because you know people are gonna depend on it but realities of course is that we don't want to even spend a microsecond in the Hellfire don't think that okay I'll go there for a while don't don't think that way because that punishment is so severe we will feel as if we are receiving the most severe punishment of anyone in alpha and the fact that we will leave their self are ultimately eventually will be the farthest from our minds to be lost the pain will be so great we will not be able to even think about getting out so it's not something we want to play with we want to depend on we have to strive to make sure we don't get in there at all also knowledge without actions I did if there's no actions on that knowledge then the knowledge is of no value the faith is dead it's the wrong faith it's the same as being no faith the wrong faith is the same as no faith that's why when people ask you well what about mother Teresa she did all this good dedicate in her whole life to serving needy destitute diseased human beings in a way you and I wouldn't have the strength to do it she dedicated her life but she died believing that God was a man those who worship her cuz she's made a saint so people now worship her they question us how can you believe that she is going to help with all of the good that she has done reality is we don't know why she did it good that she did because all it takes is for her to have done it in order that people would worship her honor her praise her admire her and she got that people do all these things and the reward for what she has done is given to her in this life and there is nothing for her in the next so [Music] belief without knowledge is blind and knowledge without actions is likewise dead when we consider knowledge in general knowledge of a law that begins with knowing that nothing takes place in this world without a laws wish and his will his permission nothing can take place without his will without his wish because we're talking about increasing faith in difficult times so the difficult times where did they come from who controls these difficult times if we use the difficult times as excuses for disobeying Allah then we have not understood that the difficult times came from Allah Allah is the one who permitted these difficult times to take place if he didn't want us to find to discover by accident the internet we wouldn't have if he didn't want us to discover how to make movies we wouldn't have how to write to make books I mean corrupt information circulating in the world today which is making difficult times for us these are some of the big things not to exclude Islamophobia with Trump that's one version Islamophobia in Europe and other parts even the attempt in the Muslim world to keep Islam in the background to continue to serve to continue to serve Western secular civilization they would not be able to do it except if Allah gave them the ability so this is very important to know those difficult times where they came from if we understand that they came from Allah then we would be able to handle them because if we're going to increase faith in these difficult times we have to be able to handle those times so it is important for us to know as Allah said in surah al-baqarah verse 155 then a blue and Macumba Shaymin al hafi will jewelry were not the same minute I'm Wiley well I'm full what's a Murad I will try you test you with some fear hunger loss of wealth loss of life and loss of the fruits of your labor that's what Allah told us he will test us so the difficult times that we're faced with whether it were it was as a result externally we see it as a result of the presence of the big man Haman Allah he's now gone but there were trials in his time and there will be trials after his time don't think that he was the source he was just one and Allah only permitted him to be a trial for his own reasons if we understand that these trials are coming from Allah then we will have the necessary qualities which will allow us to overcome those trials because that's what we're looking at increasing faith in times of difficulty we have to be able to handle those tiles so how do we handle all these trials which have been promised by a lost man to Allah how are we going to handle them Allah goes on to say in the same verse what Bashar is sovereign give glad tidings of paradise for those who are patient that's the way patience Aladin Aida asaba - Musa Burton Paulo in a leader he were in LA he Roger une those who when afflicted by calamity say truly we belong to Allah and to him we will return I know most of you thought that you're supposed to say in that in LA he when I lay Roger own when somebody died right that's what that's when you've been saying it that's when you have heard it have you ever heard anybody stub his toe kick his foot on something and say in a little I hear when I lay Roger you say are you saying it for that for huh why would you want to do that somebody hits you and it's a pain in that Eli here in LA Roger it seems like it's too light for you to say but that's not what the law said Allah said whenever a calamity strikes say it but say they mean it not say it as a ritual that is expected of you when you are told the news of somebody's death say it a minute we belong to Allah so this pay pain which came we know it ultimately came from Allah and if we are patient with that pain problems or Salim said what the believer if the believer suffers any pain even if it is only a thorn with sticks in your foot you are walking without shoes around the house somebody left attack you stepped on it or glass broke and little piece was still there it stuck in your foot he said that that if you are patient with it it wipes away sin it erases sin Allah walk about so Bahama law something so simple as that would erase sin but it's not so simple because you have to get a hold of yourself right you have to make sure you get a hold of yourself and you say in that attire in their name Raj your own or you say Subhan Allah you say Allah Akbar instead of what other people say geez Jesus this is what we see in the movies these are people that Jesus Christ I was up in love how would it be landed that would come out of our mouths or something was a god dammit God did it you're cursing god damn it God did it you know yeah you're off you're off so this thing of patience becomes very very critical for us to be able to handle the difficult times and the prophets are solemn he gave us a win-win formula to govern those difficulties and to govern all the aspects of our lives you all know about win-win right you've heard about win-win normally people function with win lose I win you lose you win I lose so people like Stephen Covey and others have said well if it can be you win and I win that's even better that's the best circumstance where you win I win isn't it that makes sense or not win-win well profit homes are salaam he gave us the win/win principle 1400 years ago he said our jebin Liam real movement in Nam Rahu kala who hair well a so valleca in lolli hadn't Malaysia valleca the avidin Aladdin movement the affair of the believer is amazing the whole of his life or her life is beneficial and that is only in the case of the believer in asaba true sorrow Chikara affair Allah were in a sorbets who the raw Sabra a Kanaka higher in LA when good times comes to him or her they are thankful and it is good for them I went bad times before them they are patient and it's good for them patience the key patience to be thankful when the good comes is also the key we are thankful to allow and the good comes we don't forget Allah and you have to be patient to be able to do that and then to handle the trial of course that is the patients that we all are familiar with so considering that we want to be able to handle all of the trials of our life so that we will be able to increase our faith during those trials we have to be clear on the fact that faith increases and decreases faith increases and it decreases that's why we said we're about increasing faith in times of difficulty it means that we're recognizing that faith can decrease faith does decrease that is the nature of human beings and the Prophet SAW Solomon said every heart is covered by a cloud like a cloud covering the full moon which which causes it to suddenly go dark but when it passes by the moon shines again this is a simile a metaphor which the Prophet SAW seldom used to speak about the weakening of faith and it's strengthening and another simile he said faith wears out in your hearts just as clothes wear out so ask Allah to renew the faith in your hearts ask Allah to renew the faith in your hearts o Allah renew the faith in our hearts so knowing that faith decreases and increases and this is the description of how it takes place why does it take place well if we know what increases faith is good deeds very simple formula it's not research that we have to do to figure out what will increase faith you have to study all the books of hadith and all the Quran from top to bottom and sit under scholars for years to find out how does faith increase no we have it very simply faith increases by good deeds and faith decreases by evil deeds so the simple answer to the question that we had in the very beginning increasing our faith in difficult times how do we increase our faith difficult times simple do good deeds avoid evil deeds that's the simple formula I could have said that at the very beginning we could have all packed up and gone home very simple faith increases with good deeds and decreases with evil deeds so what we need to do is to increase our good deeds but in order to do that to increase our good deeds and decrease our evil deeds we have to ask ourselves why are we here the teen toddler the lecturer lecture was increasing our faith in difficult times but now you have to ask yourself why are you here is it to be entertained this Islamic entertainment or just to socialize to see your old school friends and that you haven't seen them for a while nice to see so ah or is it because your group of friends are all coming so you said ok I better come too you know you want to be part of the group or romance you come and look for a husband come and look for a wife potential and then some of you coming I never seen pilau philippson like up you know I've seen him on the TV I'm sitting on this dad I never seen him like okay let me go see bill huh Phillips that's what BP is a or is it to do good deeds to boost your Eman these are good the others are not necessarily bad they're not necessarily bad because it's better that you come here and be entertained with something which will touch your Iman somehow you know you hear something you're reminded about Allah etc better that then go into a club or going to do something which is displeasing to Allah and if you're socializing with Muslims who are trying to practice Islam it's a good thing for you to be around them professore sallam said get married didn't he yeah mashallah Shabab oh YUM people whoever amongst you is able get married so it's not bad to come look for a wife or husband it's not a bad thing to come see me live and I get the chance to see you guys live also it's not bad the context but we have to understand from it all what is the real benefit from this gathering that ultimately if we didn't come prepared to make a change this afternoon we will have wasted our time we should have come to want to learn something which could make a change in our lives because if we have been to other lectures before when dr zakir naik came here he went other lectures given by other speakers abou sama Dhabi he came he gave talks you went and you keep going but it hasn't changed you you haven't made any form of change then you wonder how can I preserve my faith in difficult times you are deluding yourself obviously some change has to take place change which has to do with us otherwise if we keep doing the same things and we are expecting some different results this is called in psychology obsessive behavior obsessive behavior in common speech we says here you're banging your head against a wall you keep banging your head on the wall it's only your heads gonna hurt all the time it's not gonna affect the walls not gonna break the wall your head gonna keep hurting so you have to be conscious of change if we are to be able to survive this circumstance of trials and difficulties for our faith the only way is to recognize that a change must take place and that change doesn't have to take a long time that change in fact is instantaneous it's only for you to decide while you're here that I'm going to change once we decide that we're going to change then it's just a matter of doing what's necessary to make the change because change takes as long as we make a change take make it take we're the ones who determine ultimately how long it takes to change if we constantly make excuses and that's what people end up doing they know they need to change it's supposed to make the change but they keep making excuses or I'll do it tomorrow maybe they after tomorrow maybe next week maybe next month and so it goes on and on and on but if we understand that the change can take place in an instant at any time we need to also understand whether this change should be from the inside out or from the outside in from the inside out or from the outside in now Prophet Muhammad SAW said loved Prophet Muhammad SAW solemn had told us that for change to take place from the outside it is a reality and it is possible in fact change has to take place both from the outside in as well as from the inside out because we said that patience was the key to deal with difficulties trials patience as Allah said o Bashar Assad arena give glad tidings to those who are patient and we don't become patient by wanting to become patient it just doesn't come like that we have to make an effort we have to do something and the promise our solemn said Romania the suburb is a Beulah whoever pretends to be patient then Allah will grant him or her patience whoever pretends to be patient Allah will grant him or her patience now some people might say okay that's like a hypocrite really that's a hypocrite the principle of change from the outside in or the inside out we said problems are Solomon advised us that if we pretend to be patient eventually we will become patient some people might services are kind of hypocrisy but actually it isn't it would be hypocrisy if we were just doing it for others and not with the intention of trying to become patient but prophet Moses Solomon told us that if we give that external image of patience eventually it will become a habit so when difficult times come we okay just leave it just leave it when difficult times come we pretend to be patient every time we are faced with the difficulty we pretend to be patient then eventually it will become a habit for us to be patient it's not hypocrisy it will become a habit because you have to have the intention if you have the intention to be patient eventually you will become patient because the vast majority of us are not born with patience so where did where does it come from praying for patience alone will not give it to us I'm not saying we don't pray should pray too but the brown sauce Allah gave us that formula and if we apply it we will see the realities of patients actually with any of the qualities that we want to develop if we try to do there to act as if we have them with the intention of trying to achieve them after one to gain them then eventually we'll get it a last month Allah told us that change needs to be from within he said in the law Allah array aroma with home in hot tire why you my BM fousey him Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change what is within themselves so the change needs to come from within so we need to make the change from both within as well as from without from both sides the fundamental change ultimately has to be from within and of course when we're talking about the changes from within we're talking about the heart the change which is coming from our heart as Allah said the day on which neither wealth nor children will benefit except one who comes to Allah with a sound heart that's all that's kind of benefit us if we don't come with that sound heart then nothing of what we had in this life would benefit us at all and normanni bill Bashir he quoted the Prophet SAW said I was saying indeed in the body there is a clump of flesh if it becomes good the whole body becomes good and if it goes bad then the whole body goes bad indeed it is the heart Allah or he'll conquer so this is the foundation of the change the change it has to be from within us and that change involves developing new habits developing new habits we're already fixed in a set of habits habitual practices actions customs etc we can't make the change with those same customs we have to change those traditions our traditional behavior we have to develop new habits so if we are to develop new habits we can follow the six-point principle for the development of new habits one it's the thought habits can start from just the general thought which comes from anywhere then that thought is focused on so from here we want to change we need to that is our thought focus thought then we make a decision that yes when I leave this Hall I will change I will change myself inshallah then when we go out we turn that decision into actions we start to do things which are different from what we used to do we have to bring in new actions to make the change and then we continue to do those actions and then they become our habits so if we look briefly at habits that we can do new habits that we can develop the first I would suggest is reflecting on the God we've all read the Quran we read it in Ramadan we did on certain occasions etc but for the most part we read it without reflection we read it as a habit but we read it without reflection we need to change that to a reading with reflection because the Quran itself has the ability to cure our spiritual illnesses because our disobedience to Allah etc this is this is spiritual illness this is not physical this is something wrong with our heart and Allah said Shirelles reverse 80 - well known as the luminol Quran e ma who was chief our own rock metal aluminum I sent down from the Quran what is a cure and a mercy for the believers also in sewer Yunus verse 57 all mankind humankind good advice has come to you from your Lord and a cure for what is in the chests and guidance and mercy for the believers she far won the Mafia sued over that's how Allah describes it she found a cure for what is in the hearts so that cure only works if we reflect on the meanings of the Quran itself Allah wonders about reading without pondering without reflecting he described those of us who do that as having their hearts locked up they have blocked themselves from the message which Allah had intended for us to benefit from so change our way of reading Ramadan don't worry about trying to read the whole Quran in Arabic you've been taught how to read Arabic you read the Quran don't try to read the whole card because you cannot read the whole Quran and reflect on it in Ramadan it's too much at least in the beginning if you can read the whole of Surat Quran and reflect on its meanings you have done a wonderful thing what do I mean when you read the Arabic verse with the English verse so whatever is being said it's going into your head and sha Allah to go into your hearts so we need to start reading the Quran reflecting on its meaning change our old habits of just reading like a parrot secondly we should develop an awareness of a laws might that he is the one ultimately who can change our circumstance protect us from evil provide for us the good so we don't have to become impatient and do what is displeasing to him out of desperation thirdly we should seek knowledge seek other sources of knowledge Allah told us nmif salaam in a body in a llama indeed of allah servants it is the scholars who truly fear and we should strive to become scholars of Islam and it's a relative term scholar is a relative term as much as you can to gain as much knowledge of the Dean as you can and together with others and Remembered in Allah this is one of the gatherings the gathering of remembrance of Allah and to remember Allah individually the ask are that we do do them again with reflection the purpose of those asked are are to be conscious of Allah but if they have car are only done at the end of Salah you know we ritualistically run over our fingers we have beads were clicking beads we're not even conscious of what we are saying you can carry on another conversation with somebody whilst doing your fingers and flicking your beads that tells you where's your mind mind is somewhere else better to say subhanAllah well hamdulillah a lot of work for understanding what you have said you're in a hurry better to say that then [Music] believe me that other one is of no value it's totally useless in fact it may be an insult to allah subhana wa ta'ala because instead of saying Suba Han or law to sing soprano instead of saying al hamdulillah they're saying humbler instead of saying Allahu Akbar a single book what is that what is that it's actually a big shame we should be very shy we should be very shy to do this that's become a habit now we're doing it traditionally and we're just carrying on with it but it's something we should be ashamed of and then of course as we said in the very beginning we should try to increase our righteous deeds start to develop new habits in terms of prayers whether it's getting up for Tahajjud at night praying additional prayers around the forum the prayers that we pray not just praying the forum of course it's not an obligation it's a recommendation mm-hmm and also to reflect on death prophet Moses alam gave us many advices concerning reflection on deaf because when we forget deaf we think we're gonna live forever this is when we become negligent so it is recommended for us caelum recommended at first to go to the Graveyard to help reflect and to remember the end once we establish new deeds then we should know as the prophet saw Solomon said the deeds most beloved to Allah are those done regularly even if they're small now when we step out of here we don't necessarily want to try to take on huge deeds and we're gonna do everything it's better to take small portions and work on it until it becomes a new habit then add to it gradually let it be a gradual development and among the things that we should bring into our lives which many of us have missing is sujood Asakura so Jude a sugar now this was a Sunnah marketer problems assalam is to do it all the time whenever a good thing happened good things came he would fall down on the ground and prostrate and this prostration doesn't require wudu a woman doesn't have to be wearing hijab he don't have to even be facing the Qibla wherever you are however you can make that salute so Jude a sugar that is make the sujood say subhanAllah sir honorable Ilah reflecting and thanking Allah for whatever good came to you at that time or later in your life this is a habit a new habit which we all should develop and as students as students we need to change our approach to study there are two principles and study as well as in work which Muslims those who believe and those who are working to come closer to Allah etc will strive for on one hand it is honesty it is honesty how many of you here are students put your hand out and missing your students okay your students here in this university it's a try okay now how many of you can raise your hand and say wallahi I have never cheated on any test or examination [Music] okay you laugh okay settle down settle down please settle down settle down settle down please please settle down this is this is the reality this is the bitter truth the bitter truth none of you are able to raise his or her hand and say swearing by a lot you might raise your hand but y'all gotta swear by Allah insane swearing by Allah that you have never cheated on any test or examiner so what does that mean what does that mean for your future when I ask people what's the problem of the Gambia people say it's corruption you know from the big man down corruption but reality is what if we remove the big man as we did and the people with them and we replace them with you are things going to be better this is the reality so at what time at what point will the Gambia change when this society will really advance and be a society pleasing to Allah how and when is that going to take place it has to start with you it has to start with you if you cannot let go of cheating and the Prophet SAW selamat said what man Rosh Hashanah for less Amina whoever cheats us is not of us not a true Muslim cheating is not one of the qualities of a true Muslim so when we talk about leaving here and changing this is a primary area which is essential for all of you to develop cheating should stop for you here do you want to change she's up the rail week yes yes you know when you're watching the football game and the guy scores do you say yay no you would say yeah okay so come on do you want to change okay that's better so if you really want to change I want you to join me and raise your hands raise your hands come on you wanna change if you really want to change raise your hands okay repeat after me wallahi see all the hands going down come on [Music] let's make that happen come on now raise those hands the hands are all gone down now come on get the hands back up there again if you really want to change come on put the hand up not this one this is not a hand up this is a thought come on get those hands up these here be serious now okay repeat after me well law he come on people come on get the hands up get him up again well law he still weak night come on wallahi I will not cheat on any test or examination from today onwards okay all right people okay okay all right settle down settle down settle down settle down okay that's between you and Allah and sha Allah I hope in the future I will visit your university again and when I visit you and ask this question I will see many hands raised ready to say that from the 10th of March 2017 I have not cheated on any test or examination inshallah this is your future this is the future of your nation and it's you before Allah don't think that you can worship and law and be a good Muslim and you are cheating on your examinations these are contradictions it contradicts C but it's only the exam no it's cheating human beings you cheat human beings you're cheating Allah that's what the bottom line is so honesty is as they say the best policy this was the way of the prophets ourselves that's what he was known as I mean so we should be striving to develop that quality of being trustworthy and honest then the other principle for study as well as for work the other principle is that of perfection of our work we are only cheating because we are not good students we have not studied properly we're sleeping in class we're not doing our assignments we're not revising our material we leave everything until the night before the exam the night before the exam we try to cram it all into our heads we know we can't so we start writing things on paper on our hands on our socks or whatever you know that's what sends us there if we were good students doing our studies in the best way meaning that when you sit in a class you take your notes you revise those notes on a weekly basis so when the time for exam comes it's not everything the night before you're only doing a review you're not actually studying from fresh the material that you took in the class you've forgotten it all now trying to stick it back into your heads now this is it becomes your way you know either you do it with what they call it's fun doing it the best way as the Prophet Solomon said in a lie you hit boom in a Hideko medium in a melon and it's pinna allah loves from each and every one of you whenever you do anything you do it to the best of your ability that's it corn that is perfecting your efforts your work perfecting it if you do that you don't have to cheat there's no need that could would be the farthest thing from your mind of course you have to have also the desire and that's why we say it starts with the heart so we hope that insha'Allah the principles that we have outlined this afternoon principles which govern increasing our faith in difficult times understanding what faith is and what we need to do to increase it what kind of deeds we need to do and also in closing I just want to add also that the company you keep will also determine the type of person you are where your faith is if your friends are those who are only talking about the dunya all the time they're only talking about big car nice house chicken [Music] whatever that's all they're talking about going for a meal it's just dunja things then they're going to make that your conversation that's it's going to bring you down so you need to be around people who are going to remind you of Allah trying to do righteous deeds increasing your righteous deeds doing good things things which are beneficial to yourselves into the society being charitable etc etc so be careful about who you take as your friends Baraka lovey come Salam alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh seeking knowledge and obligation made easy thought about studying for a long time tuition fees keeping you from actually starting Islamic online university has led a revolution and online learning the world's first tuition free degree BA in Islamic studies access to the knowledge anyplace anytime anywhere it just doesn't get any easier than that classes text assignments completely online set your own schedule for the semester no overseas travel required for the exams subjects taught by qualified english-speaking scholars weekly live sessions and virtual classrooms with curricula based on those in el-medina University in Saudi Arabia al-azhar university in Cairo and other reputable institutions around the world why wait any longer he pages a symbolic registration fee and are ready to begin the 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Channel: Bilal Philips

Views: 3,426

Rating: 4.9595962 out of 5

Keywords: gambia, Increasing Faith in Difficult Times for Muslim Youth, Khutbah, Aspire Mosque, english sermon, digital minbar, bilal philips, islamic online university, iou, islam way of life, Masjid Aspire, islam online, Dr. Abu Ameena Bilal Philips, islamic lecture bilal philips, youth of the ummah, muslim children, student of knowledge, muslim students, islamic education

Id: bKvXTDGWHHE

Length: 77min 32sec (4652 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 22 2017