Why are you really doing it
By Hisham Abu Yusuf | 2026-10-07T17:59:53.302572+00:00 | Topic: Khutbah | Masjid: Hisham Abu Yusuf
May Allah not make you one from those people. When Allah talks about people who lack motivation in the Qur'an, He talks about the munafiqoon.
When they get up for Salah, you see them lazy. They don't have the motivation to get through the Salah, and the reason is that fundamentally they are not interested in the pleasure of Allah — they're only doing it to put up an appearance to other people.
وَلَا يَذْكُرُونَ اللَّهَ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا — And very little do they remember Allah.
And this is another of the greatest forms — the greatest source of motivation. People who are disbelievers, when they need motivation, what do they do? They go on YouTube, they search motivational speech, and they find somebody screaming in their ear, "Get back up when you fall down!" or something like that. They look for some motivational speech, someone screaming at them to get their life in order.
But the believer — when a believer wants motivation — all they need to do is sit by themselves and say:
Oh Allah, the Ever-Living, the One who keeps everything in order — I ask You by Your mercy. All it takes is to sit by yourself for one minute and say:
Or when the Prophet ﷺ would himself find his motivation dip, he would say:
(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 2834; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1805)
"Oh Allah, there is no life like the life of the Hereafter."
These are heavy words. Many of us don't give them enough time of day. But this is what Allah criticizes the munafiqun for — He says they have no motivation to pray Salah, and when they pray, they are constantly trying to please people.
If you ever tie your ambitions and motivations to something temporary, you will always become deflated. Your balloon will be popped.
The greatest reason for lack of motivation is not what Simon Sinek tells you, and not what all of the great leaders of management and psychology tell you. The greatest reason for lack of motivation is a lack of sincerity — fundamentally. If you want it hard enough, you do it. If you want it hard enough, you do it.