How dare we do this?!

How Dare We Do This?

Allah says to the man who was arrogant about his garden:

How could you be ungrateful? Do you not remember that one day you were sand? This is the solution to all arrogance and pride, and attachment to wealth, and attachment to this world, and love of the means of this world and its trinkets and decorations. Remember — one day we were sand, we were dust, we were clay. And everything else will turn back to dust.

ثُمَّ مِن نُّطْفَةٍ — And then you became a small piece of flesh.

ثُمَّ سَوَّاكَ رَجُلًا — And now you are a man. How did you come to be from nothing? Allah made you from nothing. He made your wealth from nothing. You are not everything — you are a speck. Remember this.

The Response of the Believer

And then this man — the believer — says:

He says: but as for me, Allah is my Master. Everything I do, I know it comes from Him. I see something beautiful in my house, I say — He gave it to me. Not for a second do I think it belongs to me. I know He can take it away at any moment. And I will not make anyone equal to Him.

The Two Special Words

My friend — why? Why? When you entered your garden, why didn't you say these two special words? These two words. If we have this mindset, it will change the way we see our wealth. When you look at what you have, the first thing you should say is:

This word — we use it so often. We don't understand the depth of what it means. Ma sha Allah means: if Allah did not will it, I would have nothing today. I could have all the skills, all the intelligence, all the degrees, all the business partners — but I would have zero. Like the people on Wall Street in 2008 — 100 billion dollars disappeared overnight. Where did it go? Nobody knows. They had everything and suddenly they had nothing. That's how it can happen.

My Lord is the one who gave it to me. And the second phrase:

There is no power, no strength — except with Allah. Let us never forget where we came from, and never forget who gave us everything we have.