The Key to Happiness - Dr. Bilal Philips

[Music] my brothers and sisters i ask allah to forgive our sins on this day this day of jummah where sins are forgiven between one juma and the next as they are forgiven between one prayer and the next that this day we gather here to worship allah sincerely not merely to fulfill a ritual a tradition a custom which we have been doing most of our lives but that on this day this juma this blessed day the aid of the week we in fact renew our connection with allah subhana as he deserves our connection to be the goal of most of us here in this university is to achieve happiness everybody wants happiness in their lives they want to live happy lives you are here studying in order to get the tools which will provide for you that happiness the media promotes that happiness lies in wealth you are here studying in order that you may obtain degrees which would give you positions in business industry private practice give you positions which will earn you sufficient to provide a happy life happy life being one in which you have a house wife kids a nice car this for the vast majority of us is our goal but in fact that goal is not the goal of true happiness for which we were created this is not the purpose for which allah has brought us into this life that purpose is no different from the purpose of the cattle the cows the sheeps the goats chickens their purpose is to eat procreate and die they enjoy the food which is provided by those that are rearing them they're happy with it and eventually when their time comes they die an animal existence and allah describes this existence as the existence for those who have not truly believed in him those who have rejected belief in practice maybe in words we say we believe but we don't live that belief so we are as allah said they us are like cattle in fact they're even more astray because the cattle have no higher purpose so for them to live an animal existence they're not astray they're doing what they were created for but for us as human beings to make our existence about material happiness this is our focus this is our goal then we are astray we are worse than the cattle because we were created with a higher purpose unlike the cattle we are here we have been given an opportunity to educate ourselves but we have to find a purpose beyond the physical happiness that we have been promised by the material society materialist society western global atheistic society a society which sees nothing beyond this world it's about enjoying as much as we can in this world while we can and the best way to do it is to accumulate as much wealth as we can but allah said al-haqa those who are busy trying to accumulate as much wealth as possible have been deluded and they remain in that state of delusion until they reach the grave that is the time that we wake up the delusion ends but there is no coming back if we have missed the message and the goal of this life and have left it as material happiness in reality we will neither gain the material happiness that we sought nor will we gain the ultimate happiness of jannah which we should have sought we have lost in both worlds so it is important for each and every one of us today to question ourselves to assess ourselves to make sure that we are on the right track what really is our goal where really will happiness be achieved how how will we be able to achieve happiness we know how many instances we have of people we read about in the newspapers we see on television etc with wealth beyond comprehension yet they kill themselves with drugs or shoot themselves destroy their lives and we wonder how why when they had everything what we are seeking they had it and they couldn't find happiness in it because that is the reality happiness is not in wealth the prophet saws warned us about this wealth he told us that the true wealth that we are seeking is not in the material world les el rina min true wealth is not from having as many properties uh possessions of this life as possible this is not where true wealth is like in the rina but the true wealth is the wealth of the soul this is where true wealth lies that soul that has understood the purpose of its creation and is living according to the way defined for us by the prophets of allah muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam being the last of those prophets and messengers were sent by allah did prophet muhammed leave behind him great wealth no did he attain happiness in this life for sure but does happiness mean that you have a big smile on your face every day whatever happens you are always laughing cheerful etc is that what it's about the prophet sallam told us that the real happiness lies in living a balanced life a life which is able to deal with the difficulties and the good times times of success a life able to stay afloat not happy when times are good and depressed when times are bad the true happiness lies in achieving what they call the win-win situation where you're able to handle all of the trials and the successes of life this is where the real happiness lies but it can only be achieved if it is based on iman that is the only way you all know that we were created to worship allah but what does that actually mean in practical terms in our lives how does knowledge that we're created to worship allah how does that knowledge become transformed into action in our day-to-day lives it is transformed when we make it a part and parcel of everything that we do we don't separate religion out for fridays and then the rest of the days of the week we live another life with occasional prayers in between so we have two lives that we live one which is based on religious teachings and the other one based on our material needs and goals we integrate the two we bring them back together to become one this is the way of the true muslim who will achieve happiness in both this life and the next and i ask allah to make us among those who have realized our purpose who live islam and who achieve happiness in both this life and the next alhamdulillah the win-win situation told us 1 400 years ago about the win-win situation so that we don't look at this life as win lose when we win somebody else loses whenever the world wins we lose he said ajiben li ambrel mukmin in amrahullah the fear of the believer is amazing all of his or her affair is good and that is only in the case of the true believer idaho if good comes good times come as they will in our lives he or she is grateful they are thankful and it's good for them they're rewarded why they and if harm comes bad times come they are patient and it's good for them so the believer the true believer is between gratitude and patience those are the two wings of faith the gratitude is something we all know about we say alhamdulillah 17 times a day alhamdulillah allah made it the very first words of our daily prayers alhamdulillah being grateful and western psychological studies have shown that grateful people are the happiest people people who are grateful are in general they live happier lives that tends to be concentrated amongst the religious people they've shown research that religious people because of this gratitude factor live much happier lives than the average person prophet muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam whenever something good happened belief is based on gratitude back into our lives when we leave the masjid today we go back to our rooms our homes or whatever and for sure every day you will find something that makes it and the more that you can do it the more that you will find happiness because those people who are depressed who cannot find anything good to talk about they always complain this problem that problem nothing is good everything is wrong nobody understands everything all these problems those people are people who are for the most part ungrateful that is the consequence in gratitude and you all know that allah if you are grateful allah will increase whatever you are grateful about he will increase it give you more that is the promise of allah and if you are ungrateful allah calls in gratitude disbelief if you have disbelieved [Music] indeed my punishment will be severe that's the consequence that punishment is a punishment not necessarily immediate problems of car accidents or buildings crumbling around you doesn't necessarily need that but it means a wretched life you will have a wretched life you will not be able to see the good like that german industrialist back in 2008 who was listed among the richest people in the world it was like number 47 or 48. he had a total wealth of some place around 15 billion but in the meltdown of the banks in the u.s which hits europe in one week he lost nine billion dollars one week what did he do and he was a self-made man built himself up from nothing had this huge fortune he was in his 70s late 70s 78 79 what did he do he went to the railroad tracks and jumped in front of a train killed himself no this is a man who although he lost nine billion dollars in one week he still had six billion dollars do you know how much money you have to spend every day to finish off six billion dollars it's unimaginable but this man couldn't see it all he could see was his loss that is the tragedy when life focus is focused on material success no gratitude then life becomes hell so prophet muhammad salla gave us these guidelines and it is for us to put these guidelines into practice in our day-to-day lives and we will achieve true happiness that we are thankful to allah when the good comes the good times when success comes because actually this is amongst the times when people forget allah they have one jackpot they have succeeded in whatever they are trying to do they just become so obsessed with their success that they forget this is the challenge you are blessed here studying having this opportunity to gain knowledge you are blessed are you thankful are you grateful do you recognize the blessing which is on you how many other people around the world would love to be in your position who don't have this opportunity don't have the chance so in this opportunity you need to make the most of it you need to be focused in your studies as muslims you need to have vision you need to have direction what you are here for you need to turn your studies here into a badass because this process of studying the prophet said if we take this path this path of being students sincerely then allah makes the path to paradise easy this is the promise of the prophet saws from allah this course of study that we're in right now is a route to eternal happiness in the next life we need to treat it like that it is special and make the best of it and one of the biggest challenges that we face here as students in this university and in universities all around the world muslim students are faced with this great challenge the challenge of honesty of being true muslim students who are honest in their study because if i ask you again here how many of you can raise his hands right now and say well i have never cheated on any test or examination put your hand up let me see one this is the ummah this is the oh my hair you can't put your hand up and say well you've never cheated on any test or examination what does that mean what is the future for the ummah it means we have no future we are doomed to repeat what was done the generation before we're now just caught in that cycle a cycle of corruption because all of you coming from different countries whereas from here you all complain that muslims our situation our countries etc are in such a bad situation today in the world because of corruption we all say that that is corruption but reality is if we remove all of the corrupt who are in governance who are ruling us and we put ourselves in their place will it be any different we will do as they did that is the reality our situation will never change as an uma until our situation will not be changed i don't want to change it for good or for even unless we change if things are good and we change and become bad then that situation will change and if the situation is bad and then we don't change it will never change it will not become good so the happiness that we seek lies within thought it is by the remembrance of allah that our hearts find peace and happiness it is by the remembrance of allah that we can be grateful if we don't remember allah of course we can't be grateful so the fact that we couldn't put any hands up is telling us we're ungrateful and allah calls it to it's disbelieving in the blessings that allah has given us so the way to happiness is clear we need to realize the win-win situation and strive for it to be grateful to allah in our times of success and be patient in our times of difficulty that can only come through the consciousness of allah living lives in which we are conscious of him as prophet muhammad and in that way our situation will change for the better insha'allah ask allah our negligence which has led us to this situation and this point today we are living we can still change and i ask him to give us the strength and the courage and the commitment to change our lives that change can begin right here that change can begin right here for you to make that intention in your heart that you will give up cheating that alone giving up cheating in your tests and examinations and i haven't been paid by the administration of unimap to advise you just deciding to do that is the beginning of real change but until you can let that go which means that you become proper students you prepare yourself properly you don't leave things till the last minute you study ahead you review your material that was the prophet saw i mean until we become like him in that regard and this study effort that we're making in the end it will be a curse on us so i ask about allah to bring us back on to the right path the straight paths rather muslim pain that we ask for every day to forgive our past errors and sins this regard and to forgive our parents our relatives who have passed away and to keep us firmly on this path to him to allah to jannah and i ask allah to let our last breath in this life [Music] [Music] [Music] uh [Music]

Channel: Bilal Philips

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Keywords: The Key to Happiness Dr. Bilal Philips, bilal philips, abu ameenah bilal philips, bilal philips khutbah, bilal philips sermon, digital minbar, islamiconline university, iou, islam way of life, bilal philips islam lecture

Id: JX4gxj5qdWw

Length: 39min 1sec (2341 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 10 2018