All praise is truly Allah's. We praise Him, seek His help and ask His forgiveness. We take refuge in Allah from the evils of our selves and from the wrongs of our actions. Whomever Allah guides, none can lead him astray. And whomever He leads astray, there is none to guide him. I testify that there is no one worthy of worship but Allah alone, without any partner to Him. And I testify that Muḥammad is His slave and messenger. May Allah's prayers and peace be upon our master Muḥammad, and upon his family and companions.
To proceed:
Brothers and sisters! I want to dedicate this khutbah to something I've noticed in many conversations, especially amongst the youth like you guys. It seems to be that whenever we have conversations, the topic time and time again is about other people who seem to be more successful in life. People who have the money, who have the fame, who have the followers, who seem cool. Whether it's soccer players, actors, CEOs, whatever. “Oh, you know this guy, he earns $4.5 million a year.” “This person earns in a day what others earn in a month.” “That person has 10 Lamborghinis and 5 mansions and 20 personal bodyguards and a private jet.” And so on. All this admiration of the rich and famous.
Dear brothers and sisters, let me tell you: this stuff – all this admiration – is not healthy. Wallāhi, it's not healthy for your hearts, for your spiritual health. It's not a healthy thing to admire these people. Yes, these people may have the wealth, the luxury, the fame, the good life, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they're happy. Go search the internet and see how many of these "successful" and "lucky" people have family issues, violence issues, drugs issues…. How many of them live miserable lives despite their riches. How many of them have even taken their own lives. And they say money buys happiness….
And then they call them "stars"….
Well guess what? First of all, these guys aren't stars. But if we were to compare them to stars, then know that our Master Muḥammad ﷺ was a sun whose light outshines all other stars. Sayyidunā Muḥammad ﷺ was a sun whose light outshines all other stars. A sun whose light does not twinkle. True happiness lies in following him ﷺ, both in the next world and this world too. So the smart person should ask himself: “Whose light do I want to take from?”
It's a sad reality nowadays among Muslim youth. If you ask them, “Name for me ten footy players off the top of your head,” or, “Name for me ten movie stars,” or, “Name for me ten singers,” you'll hear the names flow from their tongues like water. But if you ask, “Name for me ten of the ṣaḥābah of the Prophet ﷺ off the top of your head”, or “Name for me ten members of Ahl al-Bayt (the family of the Prophet ﷺ),” or, “Name for me ten of the names of Allah,” you'll see them struggling to name even five. This is sad. Muslims – that's right, Muslims – having more love and admiration for kuffār, – people who outright reject belief in Allah and His Messenger ﷺ – the corrupt, and the sinners, than they have for Allah, – Lord of the worlds – His Messenger ﷺ, and the righteous. Muslims whose hearts and minds recognise and know more about the corrupt more than they do about the righteous.
Dear brothers and sisters! When it comes to worldly matters, don't look to those above you. Look to those below you. Those who live in poverty and in unsafe parts of the world. That way, you become content with what you have, and so you can feel rich without needing to be rich. Understand that admiring the rich and famous makes you lose focus of your reality in this world. This world isn't gonna last forever. We're only going to be here for a few years, then we'll all move on, whether we're rich or poor, famous or unknown. You can have all the wealth you want, but are you going to take any of it to your grave? You can dream all day about owning a nice, big home, but for how long are you going to live there? Sooner or later, you'll be moving into your new home 2 metres below the surface of the earth with the worms as your neighbours, a home which you'll probably stay in for much longer than any home you'll ever live in during this life. So which home do you seek to invest in? Wouldn't it be the smarter thing to work so that your grave – your only definite future home – may be a garden from the gardens of paradise?
Dear brothers and sisters! Realise that you have something most of these rich and famous people don't. And that's īmān. Such a valuable thing. Only with īmān can you earn the love of the Lord of all people, the One who has guaranteed Paradise for those who believe and do righteous actions. And by the way, the last and lowest-ranked man to enter Paradise will get equal to ten times what this world has, as per one narration. And that's forever. So who's more worthy of admiration and love then: the rich and famous of this temporary, worthless world, or the man whose guidance leads to the everlasting Paradise, ﷺ?
To proceed:
Brothers and sisters! I want to dedicate this khutbah to something I've noticed in many conversations, especially amongst the youth like you guys. It seems to be that whenever we have conversations, the topic time and time again is about other people who seem to be more successful in life. People who have the money, who have the fame, who have the followers, who seem cool. Whether it's soccer players, actors, CEOs, whatever. “Oh, you know this guy, he earns $4.5 million a year.” “This person earns in a day what others earn in a month.” “That person has 10 Lamborghinis and 5 mansions and 20 personal bodyguards and a private jet.” And so on. All this admiration of the rich and famous.
Dear brothers and sisters, let me tell you: this stuff – all this admiration – is not healthy. Wallāhi, it's not healthy for your hearts, for your spiritual health. It's not a healthy thing to admire these people. Yes, these people may have the wealth, the luxury, the fame, the good life, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they're happy. Go search the internet and see how many of these "successful" and "lucky" people have family issues, violence issues, drugs issues…. How many of them live miserable lives despite their riches. How many of them have even taken their own lives. And they say money buys happiness….
And then they call them "stars"….
Well guess what? First of all, these guys aren't stars. But if we were to compare them to stars, then know that our Master Muḥammad ﷺ was a sun whose light outshines all other stars. Sayyidunā Muḥammad ﷺ was a sun whose light outshines all other stars. A sun whose light does not twinkle. True happiness lies in following him ﷺ, both in the next world and this world too. So the smart person should ask himself: “Whose light do I want to take from?”
It's a sad reality nowadays among Muslim youth. If you ask them, “Name for me ten footy players off the top of your head,” or, “Name for me ten movie stars,” or, “Name for me ten singers,” you'll hear the names flow from their tongues like water. But if you ask, “Name for me ten of the ṣaḥābah of the Prophet ﷺ off the top of your head”, or “Name for me ten members of Ahl al-Bayt (the family of the Prophet ﷺ),” or, “Name for me ten of the names of Allah,” you'll see them struggling to name even five. This is sad. Muslims – that's right, Muslims – having more love and admiration for kuffār, – people who outright reject belief in Allah and His Messenger ﷺ – the corrupt, and the sinners, than they have for Allah, – Lord of the worlds – His Messenger ﷺ, and the righteous. Muslims whose hearts and minds recognise and know more about the corrupt more than they do about the righteous.
Dear brothers and sisters! When it comes to worldly matters, don't look to those above you. Look to those below you. Those who live in poverty and in unsafe parts of the world. That way, you become content with what you have, and so you can feel rich without needing to be rich. Understand that admiring the rich and famous makes you lose focus of your reality in this world. This world isn't gonna last forever. We're only going to be here for a few years, then we'll all move on, whether we're rich or poor, famous or unknown. You can have all the wealth you want, but are you going to take any of it to your grave? You can dream all day about owning a nice, big home, but for how long are you going to live there? Sooner or later, you'll be moving into your new home 2 metres below the surface of the earth with the worms as your neighbours, a home which you'll probably stay in for much longer than any home you'll ever live in during this life. So which home do you seek to invest in? Wouldn't it be the smarter thing to work so that your grave – your only definite future home – may be a garden from the gardens of paradise?
Dear brothers and sisters! Realise that you have something most of these rich and famous people don't. And that's īmān. Such a valuable thing. Only with īmān can you earn the love of the Lord of all people, the One who has guaranteed Paradise for those who believe and do righteous actions. And by the way, the last and lowest-ranked man to enter Paradise will get equal to ten times what this world has, as per one narration. And that's forever. So who's more worthy of admiration and love then: the rich and famous of this temporary, worthless world, or the man whose guidance leads to the everlasting Paradise, ﷺ?
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