 السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته اسم الله الرحمن الرحيم في نام الله سبحانه وتعالى رب العالمين كل محب is indeed Due to Allah سبحانه وتعالى The one who has created us all The one who nourishes, cherishes, sustains, provides, protects and cures وأصلي وأصلم على أفضل الخلق أجمعين نبينا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه والتابعين ومن تبعهم بإحسانين إلى يوم الديني وبعيد We send complete blessings and salutations Upon Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم His entire household, all his companions We ask Allah سبحانه وتعالى To bless them all And to bless every single one of us And to grant us goodness and ease In this world and the next أمين My dearest brothers and sisters Generally when we look at a baby We think to ourselves That this baby is absolutely innocent New born We get extremely happy We get delighted We are excited And at the same time We feel That the people who have the child Are very fortunate Because there are so many who don't have children May Allah bless those who don't have children With children I mean But we don't realize something That that child Has come into this world For two missions The first mission is A test for the parents The second is The test for the child itself Beyond a certain age So right at the beginning There is no books Nothing is being written For that child You and I know the Hadith Says رفع القلم عن ثلاثين The pen has been lifted From three types of people The three mentioned number one The one who is Insane Number two The one who is young And he has not yet grown Up to the age of maturity And number three The one who is sleeping Until he wakes up So if you are sleeping What you see in your dream It's not going to be held against you The minute you wake up Whatever you do Whatever now you are conscious So from this narration We understand that When the sabi When a child is born They are not What they do is not written against them They will mess for example In terms of urination Or in terms of the toilet And so on It's not their fault They are still young They might say words That they don't realize are bad When they are little babies And they don't even know what it means So they are not sinful in that regard But as they grow older When they get to the age of maturity Then definitely they are responsible But between the age of birth Or between the time of birth And that age of maturity The parents are responsible The guardians are responsible Those who are around the child Are responsible to do what To present the best possible Way of living And religion And so on To that child However Did you know that Allah سبحانه وتعالى Says that he created us In order to test us In order to test us Who created death and life To make you better And better It is he who created death and life In order to test you Who from amongst you has better deeds That's what he says So he created you to test you To make you better So at that age When you are born Already There are certain things That humankind Will hold against you From the point of birth You might say how Where were you born? Did you choose? No I didn't So I was born in a poor area Where people were exploited As soon as I was born Already they were saying Here's another one And I was innocent I knew nothing That's the plan of Allah I might have been born Into a wealthy home Mashallah Beautiful royal people I've never seen anything but goodness In terms of ease of living That was Allah The soul in the body Every one of us here We are born into a unique situation Unique Allah chose your village Where you will be born The hospital or if you were born at home Some people are born in areas Where there are no hospitals They deal with midwives And the birth is at home Allah knows that But you are still born Today you are sitting in this masjid With the rest of the people Those who were born underwater Subhanallah This is Allah's plan So when you are born Already sometimes People hold certain things Against you Say for example Your father has a debt Of so many million May Allah protect us all And may Allah make it easy For those in debt To be able to pay their debt That was quite a loud I mean Mashallah So what happens is Your father had a debt You were born When you were born Sometimes as you grow older You are still a young innocent child The person who your father owes the money to Can be looking at you As a person who is already responsible For something he didn't even do And he might say Come and work for me Or your father might say Go work for this man I owe him money Already you are disadvantaged From the point of birth That the world out there But Allah is fair How fair is Allah Allah سبحانه وتعالى Makes a human being such That he or she can adapt Can adapt To many many situations I give you an example If you are born In a very very hot country Where there is no air condition There is no system of electricity Nothing else When you are born You are young You get used to it You become a person Who doesn't mind You are out in the hot weather And you are playing And you don't mind Because from the time of birth You are used to that Your body got accustomed to it Even the tone of your skin Changed according to that That's Allah's plan Allah's gift Person of the same nationality Born in a castle Where they have air condition From day one If they go out And the weather is only 39 degrees Which for you and I And Qatar is very cold If you go out to 39 degrees And they will not be able To even live سبحان الله The other day it was 44 45 degrees Yesterday was very hot سبحان الله And I was thinking to myself Amazing how People coming from Britain Sometimes they cannot cope They cannot stand Even a few minutes outside Sometimes But you get used to it Those who've lived here For a while They start saying This is nothing You still have to see The middle of summer That's what they will say This is nothing You still have to see The middle of summer So Allah's gift Acknowledge it That Allah has made you Such that you can Become accustomed You have people who are Born into poor homes They did not choose To be born into a poor home But wallahi The food they have Very different from the Food that those Who are wealthy Have fed their children with You know On one hand You have the various Serials And the baby meals That are very expensive That are found At top supermarkets And so on On the other hand You know what That's it Subhan Allah That's it And sometimes They were brought up With something very light They also had their system The point is When you got to a certain age Today we are sitting here No one can tell When you were a baby What were you fed You don't even know sometimes What struggles Your mother and father Went through In order to make sure That you Were a person Who grew up With a decent upbringing You don't even know And this is why It's important for us To go back To our parents Make dua for them Appreciate them In a good way Where they are instructing You to do something bad We will excuse ourselves Because Allah comes first Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala But where They are telling you To do something reasonable Within their limits Then you should Try your best To obey They did for you Do you know It's Allah's gift To mankind That he has created love Between Parents and children There is a love Think about it It's Allah's plan There is love Why? They feel responsible If Allah wanted to make us He could have created us Separately Each individual grows On his own From the ground It was possible But what would be The link between people There would be No fulfillment of rights I grew up on my own Who's your father? What father? I was born from the ground I just came up Like a plant And I went up Even plants They have seeds They have the parent tree Where the seeds came from And so on It's Allah's plan If he wanted Wallahi He could have kept us Totally separate But he created us He says The minute you get married جعل بينكم مودة ورحمة مودة ورحمة Love and mercy Between who? Spouse The spouses May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala Grant us love and mercy If your aim is to please Allah And her aim is to please Allah There will be love and mercy But if your aim is to Buy the latest gadgets And to please your haram desires And if her aim is for example To live off the luxuries of life Then you don't expect That مودة ورحمة That's where it goes wrong But if your aim is Allah And you want to please Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala There will definitely be مودة ورحمة You are going to think That I am married To someone's daughter She also has parents Or she had parents She has siblings A family She also grew up She is a human being If you touch her She feels If you cut her She will bleed Just like me Let me look after her Let me honor her Let me try to say Nice words to make her smile I don't need to comment About how fat she is Or how short she is Or anything else Which is negative I'd rather say good words No, you know You are my beloved wife No, Alhamdulillah I love you I really appreciate you And Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala They go through their Difficulties When they are Expecting children themselves And for us As men It's quite simple You did the easiest job That's what you did They are the ones Who held the child They are the ones Who looked after the child It's Allah's plan Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala He kept male and female Physically different He kept them Emotionally different It's his plan We cannot deny That even those Who are trying to convince us That male and female Are equal physically Externally They are foolish And we cannot say That what they are saying Is not correct We believe In a certain type Of equality That equality Referes to three things One is Certain aspects Where men and women Are exactly the same Certain aspects Where men are slightly Privileged than females And certain aspects Where females Are slightly Privileged than males These are the three You cannot say They are exactly The same in everything But you can say Yes, they have Access to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala In a similar way Of their rights وَلَهُنَّ مِثْلُ اللَّذِيْ عَلَيْهِنَّ بِلْمَعْرُفْ Their rights are For them Just like they were Against them Meaning if they have rights They need to fulfill Then you also need to fulfill Similar rights Of an equal nature For them Subhanallah It's a verse of the Quran There are rights on either side These rights may differ In nature But they add up To become equal In the sense that You do something She will have to do Something in return She does something You will have to do Something in return That's how it is So Allah has created it In a beautiful way This link that we have Is a gift Because the mother Will not leave the child Crying for longer Than a certain period of time And I want to give Advice to those Who have babies As children I have a little child Who is now A few weeks old Mashallah And I can tell you That Being a parent Of many children I have quite a few children Alhamdulillah The last time I counted Mashallah I arrived at the figure 8 But I tell you Something interesting is The men get angry Sometimes when the child Is crying and crying And crying more And crying more You make like the wife Once the child to cry That's not true She wants more desperately Than you To stop the child crying So please help Don't make it difficult Don't start screaming You can't keep the child quiet Look, it's your child as well What's wrong? No, no, no May Allah forgive us Wherever we have faltered May Allah forgive us Don't get upset The mother wants more desperately To keep the child quiet Than you Do you know this? The mother wants more desperately To keep the child quiet Than you Because she knows That look, this is not The aim is not To make the child cry I must deal with the child Whether it is hunger Whether it is For example, a nappy change Whether it is frightening Whether the child is frightened Whatever it is It is too hot, too cold, etc You know what? You need to help as well You need to make sure You contribute There is a love towards the child That was the point I was raising That's a gift of Allah But as the child grows older You send the child to school Allah takes away from you One by one The control over that child Do you know that? It's amazing When the child was born You decided What to feed the child What to name the child You decided How to clothe the child You decided How to carry the child Where to take the child Absolutely everything was decided By who? By you Allah gave you almost full control Many aspects You bought the toys Agree? Mashallah Unless someone gave you a gift Subhanallah But you bought the toys You decided I will do this And I will not do this But I grew a little bit older Allah takes away slowly One by one Things go How does it go? So you buy a toy The child says I don't want this toy Now I know how to talk Dad How can you buy me a little One of those little beaters When you know That I'm looking for an electronic toy I don't want this So now you have an issue The mother wants to dress the child In a specific way It was okay up to now Then the child says No, I don't want to dress With this clothing I want to wear something else I need my Superman I'm sure you've heard this Isn't it? I want my Superman suit Too much television Allah سبحانه وتعالى Grant us ease So while you have full control Of the child Be careful what you do Because as the child grows older It will start Thinking on its own Doing its own thing That's the plan of Allah Subhanallah So Amazingly At the beginning You decide which school You want the child to go You choose the kindergarten And the child is gone And Mashallah You are happy When you send the child to school As much as the child might cry The first day You are also a little bit worried Why? Now the child is going to mix With other children Now we don't know What's going to happen I hope everything's okay My child You are gone to work You are busy thinking Let me check up You might just go to the school Halfway through the day Just to have a quick peep And come back You might phone the teacher Is she okay? Is he okay? That was you at the beginning And after they got used to it You got used to it And you stepped back And the child continued And then the child says Dad, you know what I don't want to go to the school anymore What happened? That's the child Talking to you Allah is showing you That there's going to be a problem You need to listen and talk You need to communicate With this child So now you start speaking To the child And the child then tells you That for example I'm happy Or I have friends Or this person said something Or the teacher told me something You get so angry But you don't know The child might not be telling you The truth You get angry And you go to the school You know my child Listen to my child What are you doing? You are defending your child Where did this come from? Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala This is the Rahma This is the role of the parents But Allah is telling you as parents Listen You will start having Very limited control over the child Let me move a little bit further So as the child grows older One day When the child wants to study Something The subjects the child will choose Then the child will say I want to marry Can you say no? You have to go back to Allah That's what you have to do Look at what Allah told you What did Allah say? It is not your right To say yes and no From your own pocket Did you know that? Why? That child Belong to Allah Not to you Allah Occupied you and tested you I told you at the beginning Two aspects Test for the parents Test for the child Allah occupied you Tested you By giving you an amana To make you happy For you to be able to say My child Yet it's not your child It's Allah's child For you It's temporary For a short period of time For Allah It was before the child came to you And it will remain After the child goes away from you You understand? For you It's temporary How long? I don't even know Allah says I'm giving you something When I want it I will take it back Without asking you When Allah takes a child away Allah doesn't ask you About taking your child away Allah takes it Gone Subhan Allah You are left with an issue Another problem You start to cry It's normal It's Rahma To see the tears Rahma So the child comes And says I want to marry You need to go back To the instruction Oh Allah You gave me an amana I looked after this amana I grew up this amana And what happened is Now this amana Of yours It belongs to you Is telling me I would like to marry Many parents make a mistake They say to the child You are ungrateful I looked after you I brought you up I sent you to school I went to work And spent money on you I did this And today you want to marry Someone I disagree with That statement is foolish That is foolish That You are removing Allah From the equation Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala Allah can tell you Hey listen I gave you the child You cried for the child You didn't have children I gave you the child After so long And I told you To look after the child And I told you That I will take away control Your control of that child Because the control Is supremely mine I gave it to you For a period of time When you had it You should have done whatever Then I told you When the child wants to marry You need to follow a certain way And a certain method What is the method Go back to the Prophet S.A.W He says إذا أتاكم من ترضون الدينه وخلقه فزوجوه إلا تفعلوه تكن فتنة في الأرض وفساد عريد إذا كان شخص يأتي باستخدامك تستمتعوا مع حدثة الدينه ورلجنه وحلقه وخلقه وخلقه إذا لقد محبين لقد حدث حدثت حدثتك حدثتك حدثتك حدثتك إذا لم يحدث سيكون حدثتك هل تعرفتك؟ يمكنك أن تنسى لديك بشكل مهم لدينا في بعض الناس في ملاعين حيث اوه خلق ديني في فريق ثم لديك خلق ترفعيني وخلقه في صرية الله إن ترسلوا يمكنهم نهاية يمكنوا تجمعك حدثتك بشكل مهم من فرق Flag إن ترسلوا بشكل مهم يمكنك إذا لم ترسلوا ذهبوا ليس حدث لا تنسى يمكنك ان تتحدث وقوم بخلقه وحدثتك لا تنسى my brothers and sisters this is absolutely important the umma is suffering i get thousands of complaints on a weekly basis thousands of complaints on this matter on this subject my father is forcing me my mother is forcing me i have a proposal from a person his color is different my parents have disagreed parents disagree look at the boy talk to him bring him you find fault in him talk about the fault the color is not a fault بلالي بن رباح was a man from jannah in the sense that the Prophet ﷺ when he came back from معراج he made it clear he said I heard the footsteps of بلالي بن رباح in jannah رضي الله عنه yet they got him married they married him سبحان الله they didn't look at his color and say because he was dark skin have you ever asked yourself why did Allah سبحانه وتعالى keep some Sahaba of different races did you ask yourself that question what was the point of having بلالي بن رباح in the middle of all the Sahaba why? why did Allah keep it why was Suheba Rumi the European man from from a room why was he a Sahabi why did Allah have it just to show you that Islam is not about race the race of بلالي بن رباح did not drop him down and the race of أبو لهاب did not raise him in any status do you need to know this so that is a test for us I might not like something I don't like something I might say do you know what I'm so upset why did you look if Allah allows it and permits it and if they want it it is your duty to let it happen whether you like it or you don't you might talk about it you might express look my daughter Insha'Allah we can do better we can this we can that look my son I think this and I think that you can explain and talk you cannot become violent you cannot threaten you cannot be a person who just refuses without proper إسلامic valid reason that is an amana and Allah will take that amana away that person was born like I explained at the beginning of this talk it was not their fault where they were born it was not their fault they were born somewhere Allah chose them to be born how did they meet I don't know you don't know perhaps you need to find out and if they met Subhan Allah it's one of those things nowadays online if you did not guide your child at the time you had control over the child don't blame the child for having done something that you didn't even talk to them about many parents don't discuss the issue of marriage with their children age of 10 and 11 and 12 and guess what from 10, 11, 12 they already have boyfriends and girlfriends because we don't even talk to them about this matter young age they're already far ahead far ahead we think Oh Mashallah everything is okay everything is fine you got them the mobile you got them the iPad you got them the internet you got the fastest wifi in your home and you just said I love my child wait there's a war coming Allahu Akbar there's a war coming I'm not saying don't get them get them but teach them how to use it teach them restrict them in a certain way in a beautiful way I have had cases of people who say my children are banned they're not allowed to have mobile phones one day the man caught his daughter with six telephones where did you get them from someone gave me that guy gave me another guy gave me they will give you they'll give you the phone father what do you think you did not teach the child how to use the mobile you just said banned and you happy I never got the phone but you never ever looked she has six telephones Allahu Akbar may Allah forgive us may it not happen to us so what I'm saying is communicate with your children and understand they are an amana from Allah try to take them away at any time from you at any time he can take them away they are his children before they were yours he allowed you to say my child for a period of time but now let's continue so as the child grows masha Allah do you know what life is extremely difficult extremely difficult extremely difficult when you were born you came to this world this world is full of obstacles and tests testing ground it's like a school every week you have an examination at the school every week you have a test every day some people have tests if you go to a top private school they will test you every day what you did yesterday so this is the best the dunya Allah is going to test you one after the other every day you will be tested what you did what you learned the previous day or earlier in that day or what you know Allah will test you Allah says سورة البقرة I'm sure you've heard this verse I just said one word you know Arabic language a lot of you might understand a little bit but when Allah says نبلوكم it means we will test you and when He says لنبلو oneكم He is emphasizing it's so strongly we will definitely definitely definitely test every single one of you it's going to be test after test after test that's why you are on earth everyone seated here including myself we have issues we need to deal with you have issues health issues we've all struggled with whether it's a cough no matter what it is we've all struggled with health issues nobody here can say I've never had a health issue since I was born up to today go and ask your mother maybe when you were little you were a colleague child maybe you used to scream سبحان الله this is the plan of Allah why because Allah wants to test you what are you going to do some of us when we are tested we get angry some of us when we are tested we get depressed Allah says no there's no point in getting depressed no point in getting angry we could not all go to top schools agree we could not all get certain qualifications that we might have wanted we had to fit in somewhere sometimes either because we didn't do that well not everyone's brain is exactly the same in capacity Allah created you you are good at something what is it it might be different from what I am good at but Allah did not leave you just like that there is something that He gave you sometimes you don't realize what He's given you He has bestowed upon you some gift that others perhaps don't have to your level some people are very intelligent some people are good with their hands some people good at mathematics some people love biology geography some people are very good at administration some people are good as teachers some people are good at sitting and watching so they are gods subhan Allah I see you are smiling I didn't say lazy I said good at sitting and watching masha Allah subhan Allah help us you still can have a job you still can have a job and you still can go but how much will you earn let me inform you at the beginning I said man is such he can adapt that's Allah's gift to you you can adapt the man who earns 50,000 Qatar Riyals a month and another who earns 500 Qatar Riyals a month trust me they are eating trust me they are surviving they get used to it when that man who's earning 50,000 one day suddenly loses his job and he's not earning he will struggle if he's a mu'min he will make the most of what he has he probably has saved a little bit in a beautiful way because he knows that I'm a mu'min I'm a Muslim and perhaps this is a gift of Allah I need to make the most of it if he's not a mu'min or his iman is weak he will start to cry he will become depressed he will become upset he will not be able to survive not realizing that the one on the street who is wearing a uniform and who's sweeping he's happy Peace be upon you he's looking at you time for Salah he puts his broom on one side and Allah Akbar and he's so happy he's delighted Masha'Allah you give him one real oh no no no thank you so much thank you sir he'll carry your bags your plastic bags from the supermarket all the way to your hotel room in the middle of the heat and he won't expect more than 1 to 10 reals from you SubhanAllah and he's happy and delighted but you are a human being just like him how come he's doing that that's a gift of Allah and he's happier than you are yet you've got a thousand reals in your pocket that's Allah adapt this is the test this is something that really we need to think about don't become depressed at your test because your test is considered a gift for other people in their real life does it make sense I have seen people without legs wallahi and they are so happy I met a man who cannot move for many many years may Allah grant him he is paralyzed from top to bottom he communicates with his eyes may Allah grant him cure but if you see him you talk to him you will be motivated because trust me his contentment and happiness with Allah is far greater than a lot of us who are seated here today we have small issues so don't become depressed the issues are there that's what the dunya is all about I'm here to tell you today that hardships in your life would start from the point of birth even before anything is written against you your hardships have started you know Allah says your deeds are going to be written at the age of maturity when you mature then the pen is lifted and things are written for you but your hardships they start before that innocent children sometimes you ask yourself why is it that Allah has tested this child the kidney failure may Allah grant shefa to those who have kidney failure why is it that Allah has tested this child innocent child cannot see innocent child cannot hear that all is a test Allah knows why it's a test for you who are around the child as for the child Allah knows that it is Allah's child before it came to you on earth and it will go back to Allah سبحانه و تعالى and perhaps Allah will grant that child a lofty rank in Jannah it is something amazing and we definitely need to think about this unique system of Allah سبحانه و تعالى so my brothers and sisters as the child grows older and the child starts asking a question and I got to the point of marriage and the child is saying I want to marry please consider what the child is saying those who say I am embarrassed about what people will say they need to understand there is a greater embarrassment concerning what Allah will have to say or do and remember this people start saying back at home what are they going to say the people wallahi are you really bothered to fulfill the amana of Allah سبحانه و تعالى for you if that is the case watch out fulfill it in a beautiful way if you have proper reasons give them masha Allah talk to your child don't use the fact oh you know in our family it doesn't work like this do you not belong to Islam as a family are we not family members here are you not part of my family I am part of your family we have the deen we have Islam سبحان الله so don't say in my family my tribe they don't allow it our culture if your culture agrees with Islam it's a beautiful culture if there are two three elements that are against Islam you have to drop them because Islam comes first I am saying that yes there is an ideal every parent has some dream but can I tell you that reality whether you like it or not you have to adjust your dream as the years pass if you don't you will be angry you will be depressed many of us when we were young we had a dream one day I will do this one day I will do that one day I will do this and you had to change your dream I'm sure you heard the story about the man who was I said it in this masjid sometime back and I want to say it again the man who was a porter and he had a dream that one day I will carry the goods of someone who is wealthy and I will get some money and I will do something so what happened is he was at the train station and there was a man who came out of the train with some milk milk in a can a big can and he was a wealthy man that time there was a shortage of milk so to have milk is something big so he said can you carry this this man says yes I will carry this for you and he says I will give you a nice amount of money good amount of money for this so that man puts he took the can and he put it on top of his head and he was walking very happy today his dream is coming true why? because I'm going to get a lot of money and you know they have a skill the porters if you have seen them they put something on their head they have a skill they put something on top without holding it and they can even run it won't fall they can even run it won't fall because they know they are experts in their field subhanallah this young man he has this thing and he's walking walking and that man says look whatever you do don't drop the milk he said no I won't don't worry I won't so he's walking and as he's walking he's thinking to himself I'm going to get say for example $100 from this man or $10 whatever it was I will buy from there the chickens will lay eggs when they lay eggs I will start selling eggs then I will buy more chickens before I know it I'm going to have a foul run and I will have many chickens they will lay eggs and I will also start selling the chickens themselves so I will be now be a person who sells chickens and eggs and after some time I will buy some sheep and then I will have I will have a little farm and I will be able to grow on one hand I have my chickens my eggs on the other hand sheep and perhaps goats I might want to sell some of the milk of the goats and I might end up selling the sheep and I will open a butcher I will be a butcher and after some time I'll buy a big piece of land and I'm going to buy some cows when I buy the cows we will sell milk we will sell cows we will sell so many things wow I will employ 200 300 people and I will make sure that everything runs and he is busy walking with this milk on his head and he's planned he's planned it's workable isn't it? it can work if he works hard and Allah gives him acceptance they are from amongst us he even may be sitting here people who started off with nothing and Mashallah today they have so much you know that so it's possible so he has this dream and then he says then I will buy a building in the city center I will buy because now when I make money I can't just leave all my eggs in one basket I will buy a building in the city center and after that I will buy another building and I will give it on rent in this whole land then I will go to the king to ask him for his daughter did you hear that? I will go to the king because now they will know me I will be a businessman and I will be the biggest they will ask me for they will ask when he asks I will then go to them and say look I want to marry your daughter and as he is thinking this he hit a rock and this this thing here fell down so when it fell down the owner of the milk he was so upset he turned around and said what did you do to my milk I lost my milk he says wait hang on relax you only lost your milk I lost my chickens I lost my goats I lost my eggs I lost everything I lost my I saw many people lost their jobs and at the same time I even lost their wife the point I am raising is you have to adjust your dreams because you have a dream it's not wrong to dream dream please dream but remember it's Allah's plan you will have to adjust we have idea oh I have daughters Insha'Allah I will get them grow they will grow up masha'Allah under me I will teach them they will become half of the Quran they will this everyone has a dream I want my child to become Imam of the Masjid to learn Islam to spread the deen everyone has a good dream I want my child to do this to do that you know what and then you say I want my child to marry someone Insha'Allah I was a really good person they will have children I will have grandchildren one day by the will of Allah and whatever whatever it's exactly like this man who had his dreams with his you know can of milk at the top if anything happens to that can trust me you have to adjust your dreams but Allah will give you something not very far off if you aim very high with your children Insha'Allah at least you will get halfway there but if you have no aim where are you going to go you have no aim so I have met young people I want to memorize the Quran I want to memorize the Quran give me some advice memorizing the Quran is not easy yes it's good that you have the intention start today you might not finish everything and you might find it difficult how many children started hip and then after a little while they gave up they found it very difficult at least they have a link with the Quran at least now you can read the Quran looking inside properly some parents they say I want my child to be happy they push the child they force the child they have a problem with the child they start fighting with the child and the child goes in and the child starts learning Quran and they memorize one juice and then they give up after a big fight you don't realize that while I was trying to make my child a full half it at least now they can read the Quran very beautifully looking inside that's a bonus that's a bonus have you thought of it but if you didn't even plan that they wouldn't even have achieved this much so life is filled with hardship one after the other tests you have to adjust your dreams you have to one day you will have a lot of wealth the next day you will struggle because you will suffer a loss you have to suffer a loss it's Allah's promise because that verse that I was reading in Surat Al-Baqara where Allah says You know what he speaks about in there I will definitely test you some days you will be inflicted with fear fear of what all types of fear you are scared look at the people in some of the lands around us may Allah protect our lands may Allah grant them ease and goodness innocent people they were living they had nothing nothing was happening they weren't interfering with anybody they had to run away their homes were destroyed everything happened they found to be refugees all across the globe what happened to them take a lesson we are concerned we want to see solution we are Muslimin we want a stop to all the fighting and killing that's how it's supposed to be that's what we make do our for sometimes there is confusion we don't even understand what's going on that's how much confusion there is but the lesson to learn is those people a lot of them had more comfortable lives than you have today do you realize that what happened Allah says we tested them we tested them they adapted they went they came those people who were living who in air condition those people who had beautiful beddings they were found later on to be in camps of refugees where they don't even have a blanket but they got used to it Allah gifted them by allowing their bodies to adjust by allowing their system to adjust you have to adjust if you don't you get depressed you become sick you suffer a sickness a mental disease because you did not adjust you have to adjust when you lost your job or your salary went down or they were retrenching people and you had to go for example don't be depressed make the most of what you have some of the people who are the healthiest and wealthiest are from among those who one day they suffered a dip and then they came up they suffered a dip and then they came up I can give you a true story of a man who went to look for a job as a cleaner at one company in the United States it's a true story and he went for the interview he had the interview and this person asked him that you know what's your email at the end of the interview what's your email and he said I don't have an email he says if you don't have an email you are a nobody you are a nobody we cannot give you the job if you don't have the email anyway he was disgruntled upset he walked out as he went out he saw some people selling tomatoes you know they call them tomatoes in America anyway selling tomatoes on the road and what happened is he realized hey this is also a good way of earning money so he went to the market he brought some tomatoes he bought some and he bought a few more and he sold and he became a person who sells vegetables and in no time Masha'Allah he started delivering one corner to the other with a little bit of a profit and before he bought a little stall and a little you know one of those what do they call them a simple stall one of those little stalls and he started selling from that and he was going on and on and he got to a time when he bought a corner store and after that he became a big supplier huge one of the biggest in vegetables and one day he was invited to some main you know some company huge for some function and he went there and he met that man which man a man who told him you are nobody isn't it and today he was somebody and guess what when they met and he was so thankful where he said you know what if I was given that job I was just going to be still a cleaner in your office did you hear that but because you did not give me the job and you told me I am a nobody I walked out and I started the business and today without an email I am somebody Subhanallah so I want to show you this is an example to tell you that you know what my brothers and sisters when you are rejected somewhere perhaps Allah wants you to do something big but if you become depressed you won't be able to see the opportunities Allah has placed in front of your nose this man had to look to see the tomatoes and he realized hey this is a good idea if he was depressed he wouldn't even notice those tomatoes he wouldn't even notice so many of us here we can relate to what I am saying because you have a job today tomorrow you don't have the job it can happen don't let it depress you I am here to tell you Allah is in charge Allah is in control did you not have beautiful days yes you did so thank Allah and continue working I am not saying sit back and relax and become a person who is just sitting and watching no you have to actually go and try and work and do something that will help you in a beautiful way and insha Allah in that way you will be able to grow so life is filled with obstacles one of those obstacles you will find is as Allah makes mention of it in fact let me move through that verse one by one he says الله says we will test you with hunger sometimes you don't realize you have a lot of food today and tomorrow you might not have it and sometimes you have the food but tomorrow you might not be able to eat it because of your health condition subhan Allah you know I was speaking to some brothers a few days ago and I was saying when you are 20 when you are 20 you smell of perfume when you are 30 you smell of اطر the difference is it's a little bit more because it has a little bit of a different taste you are now maturing a little bit perhaps I'm not saying it's wrong to use perfume but I'm giving an example when you are 40 it becomes you know now you know what is all about and now you can afford it perhaps and once you turn 50 you are smelling of wix may Allah may Allah forgive us may Allah grant us ease it's Allah's way you had your days you were young Mashallah you did everything but subhan Allah the days moved and you continued so the point I was raising sometimes when you are young you can eat you have chocolates and ice creams and everything when you go a little bit older when you are 20 you are eating everything when you are 30 so perhaps one or two things you start slowing down when you get to 40 you see it you want it you still can't eat it when you get to 50 you can't even touch it you have to think 20 times I'd say thank you so much no Mashallah you guys carry on and in your heart you desperately want to have it but you can't so what happened your health made you not eat certain things that you really liked it shows you that in this dunya Allah will tell you there are things you like you cannot have all of them when you get married you have your wife you can't have all the women from the rose bush you picked one if you are lucky you might have to pick one more or maybe another two more you will stop at four let me not go further with that one insha'Allah but the bulk of us subhanallah you are lucky you are fortunate you picked one but you have the one in your hand and you keep on looking at the rest of them oh this you are like a person who has sugar diabetes you know you cannot have these chocolates and sweets but you just look at them all day come on at least eat that which is healthy for you dear man subhanallah man does it with everything very upset very you know man once all but Allah says in this world at this time there will be certain things you cannot have them one of the reasons is because Allah has kept jannah that's why in jannah the meezah you know the beauty of it the difference of jannah is that you will have what you want there you are there is no even age you will be eating what you want you have what you want there is no restriction whatsoever whatever comes to your mind is yours so if Allah gave you everything you wanted in this world what was the point of creating jannah but Allah says no we won't give you you see the cars you find the cars you can buy the latest car today wallahi as you are driving it you will see one later than that it just shows you the dunya when you run behind it it has to run faster than you you have an iPhone 7 you have ordered the new Tesla you know the Tesla is the new the car of the future it's already there you can order it $35,000 inshaAllah next year but you order the car it's amazing but can I tell you something when you get it there will be so many others who have it and another model which is perhaps higher than that and they will have a different brand which might even be better than that who knows this is what it is that's the dunya that's the nature of the world you know I want to give you one beautiful example that you will relate to many years ago when I was much younger we used to have certain cars from among those cars there was a Mercedes that was known it was one, two, three series you can go and google it and check it 300D wow that was like the car of the time they used to advertise this vehicle and I remember going into I didn't afford it or anything but going into the Mercedes showroom and just to get the book and to look at it and say hey, lovely it's your dream car the 300D you know people who are who are very should I say they are all sighted they make a dua to say oh Allah oh Allah you know this car here yeah Allah you know at least if I don't get in the dunya then at least in Jannah give me the car young people you ask them young people you ask them so what would you like in Jannah I know my own son one day he told me I need a Bugatti in Jannah and then I had to correct him I asked the question because I want to correct him I said you know Bugatti by the time you grow old you won't even want to see it so today if someone offered the same people that time for a 300D a 300D in the dunya forget about the akhirah they will say I don't need it I don't want it you understand the point so this is why we say Allah has kept the dunya such that when you run behind it it runs faster than you you will never be able to keep up with it but you need to understand and realize that Allah puts hardships as a gift another gift regarding hardship is it softens your heart it makes you get close to Allah you have hunger you have fear what do you do oh Allah save me you know people talk about jinn subhan Allah and they are jinn around and people are worried because you start seeing this person learn what Islam says it's not my topic today but I can tell you something interesting after Salatul Fajr after Salatul Maghrib we read what is called Muawwidat why to protect yourself from what from matters of the unseen issues of Al Ain issues of jinn and so on why because there is an element of fear Allah has blessed you read your Muawwidat ask Allah's protection Allah gave you something so that you are not affected so that without that element you wouldn't have read this to us do you know that without that element you wouldn't have read it perhaps and speaking about jinn they were these children that also you know they fear the jinn you might have heard me say this I said it last year sometime and I repeated it once or twice but I want to say it again so how people fear jinn is very very interesting you know yet the jinn in reality fear man you know that it's only when you fear them then they can come for you but if you don't fear them you fear Allah alone they will not even harm you so what happened is this jinn the two boys are trying to convince each other about something they learnt in the madrasa and what happened is the boy is telling the other boy look you have to say Bismillah when you are drinking water you have to say Bismillah when you are drinking water so the boy says look it's just water I know when I'm eating I will say Bismillah this is only water so why convince me tell me explain to me give me a good reason why I need to say Bismillah before I drink this water so he's trying to explain you have to say Bismillah because it's the hadith and because the boy says no I want to be convinced he says ok I tell you you have to say Bismillah because in water there are three jinn there are three jinn three jinn he is so worried what do you mean three jinn he says yes you better say Bismillah Bismillah so what are the jinn where are the jinn he said no two hydro jinn and one oxygen H2O may Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala forgive us but that's just a point to show you how people fear the jinn so because of this khawf that you have what happens one of the points is it drives you closer to Allah you make dua your health for example we fear that sometimes when you are not feeling well and you are going for a test you have a major blood test or some scan or something what do you do you cry to Allah oh Allah help me my test results must be clear those who have been ill may Allah grant them shifa those with cancer may Allah grant them cure those with any type of disease and sickness may Allah grant you cure and all of us and those who are healthy may Allah keep you healthy I mean so this is part of the plan of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala that there will be times when you are fearful and hunger we spoke about hunger and then Allah says وَنَقْصِمْ مِنَ الْأَمْوَالِ وَالْأَنْفُسْ beautiful that we will test you with loss of wealth and life loss of wealth and life so all of us who are seated here and everyone who is going to listen to this in the future also I can tell you something there will never be a single person who has not seen a loss in their life sometimes that loss is going to take you underground and make you bank up no but if you were earning easily at some stage there will come a time when that earning is not going to be the same for Allah to test you what are you going to do do you realize before we made you we already told you what we are going to do to you before we made you we told you we are going to test you you have a beautiful job and suddenly it's no longer there or you have a beautiful job beautiful salary and suddenly they cutting down on salaries and you have to take a cut rather than an increase all of us want increase isn't it salaries you want increase and they tell you look you know what either you take a cut or we can't afford you anymore you have to make a big decision don't become depressed turn to Allah read two raka'at of Salah كان رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم إذا حزبه أمرن فزي عيلة الصلاة when the Prophet ﷺ was overcome by something he used to quickly go to Salah whenever there was something of concern he used to read Salah and that Salah used to help so much you are getting closer to Allah you are praying to Allah so Allah says we will test all of you with loss you cannot make a prophet every day you cannot be on a good weekend every day they will be lost the deals when you buy certain things some of those things they will be baraka'in and some of them no baraka'in sometimes you buy a car and it lasts for 10 years and it's still like new and sometimes you buy a car and the first year it's already damaged and broken and it's like a waste well that was from Allah he tested you so long as you are not reckless so long as you try to look after the ni'ma of Allah you need to now move on you need to thank Allah and carry do something about it the situation that you are in don't dig a hole in the ground and start becoming depressed thank Allah no matter what it is that's why on the day of judgment those going to Jannah one of the categories a caller will call and they will be granted Jannah who, where are those who used to praise Allah at times of ease and at times of goodness they used to say الحمد لله come we want to give you Jannah imagine Allah is telling you those who used to thank me when they were in hardship I want to give them Jannah because they thanking me at least I gave them something compare yourself with someone worse than you you still have a gift so my brothers and sisters when something negative happens to you you say I praise Allah on all conditions أعوذ بالله من حالي أهل النار only I seek Allah's protection from the condition of those who are in the fire the people of the fire so learn to thank Allah الحمد لله على كل حال and then Allah says we will test you with loss of life what is the meaning of loss of life subhan Allah your parents your children your siblings your friends and those who you know those who are close to you we will take them away either we will take you before them or we take all of you together that's a test you came in this world what's the next step before I came here I was somewhere then I came here and after this I need to go somewhere isn't it this is a short period of time everyone's time is different Allah says we will test you by taking life away so the life will go it has to go you have no option your father has to die you have to die your child has to die someone has to die we only don't know the timing and we don't know how so what do you do yes you will cry the Prophet ﷺ lost his son إبراهيم and he was carrying him and he was crying and the صاحب رضي الله عنهم looking at the tears of رسول الله ﷺ and you know what he made the beautiful statement he says when they asked about the tears he says إنما هي رحمة جعلها الله في إباده الرحمة he says I'm not questioning the decree of Allah these tears are the tears of رحمة they are tears of mercy Allah has put in the hearts of those who have mercy it's normal to cry it's normal to be saddened at a loss but it's not the sign of a mean to become depressed at a loss that's the difference don't become depressed don't play the blame game blame game meaning if I did this maybe my child would have this or my brother would have this if I did this that all those ifs تفتحوا باب الشيطان according to the hadith لو when you say لو this لو that maybe this if that if this it opens the door of the devil that's what the hadith said the devil will temper with your mind destroy your relations everything gone don't do that thank Allah الحمد الله help me اللهم أجرني في مصيبتي وخلفني خيرا منها oh Allah you are asking Allah's help to grant you out of that مصيبة and difficulty that you have help you through it save you from the calamity and at the same time give me something better in return oh Allah that's what you are saying so it's an amazing gift of Allah سبحانه و تعالى brothers and sisters life will be full of hardship like I say you will lose your children or your spouse if you are married and you really love your wife or your husband you have to tell yourself one day they're going to go or I'm going to go or we're going to go together you have to there's no two ways don't let that depress you because that's life that is life you look at your children it is normal to think that you know what let me use let me thank Allah for this goodness as it is here I may not have my children soon it's normal to think that but it's not normal to become depressed at that because that is part of the test of Allah when you go to school it's normal to be tested you don't see the question and you just sit back with your pen down and you are depressed and you are crying hard question the question is so difficult and you are crying while you are sitting in the exam room try attempted do something say something use whatever you've learned check write some form of an answer anything you know whatever you want to write try and inshaAllah perhaps you might have struck it but if you didn't try you put your pen down and you started crying you definitely failed there was no question about it so this is why we say my brothers and sisters look at the Quran see that Allah says He will test you from the point of birth you are tested and you will be tested all the way to the point of death even the sickness right at the end when people are terminally ill a powerful piece of advice you die with hope in Allah أنا عند ذني عبدي ب Allah says I will treat each of my worshipers according to the way they perceive me so if you think إن شاء الله is غفور الراهيم I have committed sins Allah will forgive me I made tawba I tried my best يا الله رواف الراهيم غفور الراهيم رحمان ونراهيم forgive me have mercy on me I have no option but to return to you you are the one when I was younger I had energies I committed so many sins يا الله you know right now I have nothing besides you I am going to return to you يا الله I know that you will forgive me because I am asking you for this forgiveness and you die with a smile سبحان الله don't become depressed people are terminally ill they become depressed even if you hold the chair very hard you will still die it doesn't help you no matter what you will still die so when a person is terminally ill and they are old remind them of their good deeds it's a sunnah remind them of their good deeds remind them of the mercy of Allah have good words on your tongue سبحان الله may Allah سبحانه وتعالى bless us all and may Allah open our doors may Allah grant us all may Allah grant us all ease through the difficulties that we will face we have faced we are facing every one of us here I am sure we are facing difficulty we are facing hardship of some nature some are more than others some people have bigger problem than others some people have smaller problems than others but because they don't know how to deal with it they think that it's the biggest problem on earth not realizing that so many other people have been through those problems may Allah سبحانه وتعالى may Allah open your doors may Allah open the doors of every one of us of mercy may Allah grant you sustenance and good health and more than anything may Allah make us closer to Him may Allah سبحانه وتعالى keep us as close as possible to Him wallahi my brothers and sisters when you go through difficulty it's a gift of Allah you become closer to Allah you come to Salah you come to Tahajud you come to dua your heart is softened you become a better person you start dressing with hijab you start doing things for the sake of Allah it's not all about partying and it's not all about wasting of money my brothers and sisters learn to save a little bit learn to reach out to other people when you help other people Allah will help you so insha'Allah in this way we will be able to get closer and closer to Allah I hope that the few words I have said will be of benefit to myself to begin with and then to the rest of us أقولوا قولي هذا وصلى الله وسلم وبارك عالى نبينا محمد