Chasing Worldly Milestones: The One We Forget

The Milestones We Chase — and the One We Forget

Allah created us, and Allah Ta'ala put within us this quality within our nature that we have certain desires, we have aspirations, we have wishes that we want to accomplish in life. And you see that the way our society is, every child that's growing up — it's almost as if it's set in his mind what trajectory he's about to take, and we have types of milestones by which we gauge whether the individual is reaching the target or not.

For example, anyone who's had young kids — taking them to the doctor — one of the things sometimes that they'll do is they'll give you a paper to fill out. These are physical and cognitive milestones that you have to check and see if your child is meeting or not. You'll see, for example: can your child now pick up things with their index finger and their thumb? Are they able to pick things up like this? They get a little older, there's even a question — when you put on their clothes, do they actively allow you to put the clothes on? Do they put their hands inside the sleeves or not? They get a little bit older — are they able to put the button on their clothes or not? These are all different milestones that are there to check whether the child's cognitive and physical abilities are on par or not.

A child gets older — there's always, throughout a person's life, different types of assessments. You go into education, and in education at the end of the semester, at the end of the term, there's a report card that comes. It's there to show you: is this child doing well or not? What is he lacking in? What does he need to improve on? Does he need to take additional supplementary classes or not? Does he need to go to summer school, so on and so forth. You start working — at work there are sometimes performance reviews, there are assessments taken by those in charge: are you meeting the standards that our company or our office has set or not? Or are you falling short? Are you doing well? They congratulate you, maybe you get an extra bonus — and if not, they'll give you the assessment, and soon, if it still doesn't work, that may be the end of that.

And we ourselves have different milestones that society — or we ourselves — have set for ourselves: by this stage I have to be done with my high school, by this stage I need to get my degree, by this age I should be married, by this time I should have kids, at this time I should be this — whatever the case may be. And at each stage, what we're doing when we look in terms of the dunya, we're always asking for advice, we're always getting counsel from other individuals. A person's about to have children — "Hey, could you give me some tips, what are some guidelines?" "Hey, new parents, these are things you should be aware of." You're a first-time home buyer — okay, what should a first-time home buyer know? Who should he need to talk to? You don't just go and buy a house — you go and you talk to the right people. "Let me talk to a real estate agent, let me talk to a financial consultant," so on and so forth.

All the way to the end of our life, we have every single thing planned out. Retirement — how should I set up my retirement fund? How should that be? How much money is going into it every month? If I retire by this age, how much money will I have? How much do I need to survive? So on and so forth. Every stage of life we are thinking about it, we are consulting people regarding it, we're seeing: are we meeting the standard or not? You hear it all the time — someone says, "Man, I'm already this age and I'm not married yet." "I'm already this age and I don't have a job yet." "I'm at this stage, I should have had a car by now." "I'm at this stage and I should have had my own home by now, I'm still living with my parents." All kinds of different things, based on society and trends and whatnot. Not saying something is right or wrong, but we have these things in our mind.

The Milestone We Never Think About

The last thing that we have in our mind is regarding deen. The last thing that we'll think about is: am I meeting the milestones in relation to my religion or not? In relation to my spirituality or not? In my connection to Allah or not? Every year, a new year comes and a person says, "Hey, you know what, I need to better my health — so I'm gonna get a gym membership." It's my birthday — let me reflect: what have I done this past year? Every stage of life we're constantly thinking about and pondering over our dunyawi life and whether we've met the milestones in our dunyawi life. And if we haven't, we're reassessing — what do I need to do, what did I lack in, how should I improve myself?

Nobody's content — who is content with a minimum wage job? Everyone's thinking: okay, if I'm making this much now, what do I need to do to make more? How can I climb the ladder, the corporate ladder? Which — I'm not saying is a bad thing. What I'm saying is: this has become our main priority and focus in life. How often do we sit back and think — these were the rights of Allah, have I been meeting the rights of Allah or not? These are the rights of the people that Allah has ordained on me — am I fulfilling that or not?

We have various aspirations for ourselves and our children. "I want to become this, I want to go into this field, I want to go into this profession, I want my kids to go into this profession." How often do we sit back and think: "I would like for myself and my children to be close to Allah"? I want to become a Wali of Allah — has that thought ever crossed our mind? I want my children to be Awliya of Allah — has that thought ever crossed our mind? It's something to think about.

Becoming a Wali of Allah — Is It Attainable?

Becoming a Wali of Allah is not something that is unattainable. Nubuwwah is something unattainable — somebody says, "I'm going to work hard for 30 years and I'll become a Nabi" — no. Nubuwwah is not based on the work that you put into it. Nubuwwah is something from Allah; Allah is the one who chooses His messengers from the angels and from the men — you and I have no choice in that, and that door, by the way, is closed. But to become a Wali of Allah, to become a friend of Allah — that is not something that is unattainable. That could definitely be acquired. But how much do we put our emphasis and priority on that?

Our conversations among ourselves — whether they're related to politics, all kinds of discussions within the current administration — "oh, this is happening, that's happening" — all our discussions, all our thoughts, our concerns. Think about it: what percentage of it is allocated for the dunya, and how much of it do we actually take out for the Hereafter, for the sake of Allah?

This is something serious. All of this that we've acquired in the dunya — where does it result? Which home of ours will we be able to take with us to our grave? Which degree of ours will we be able to take with us to our grave? "Ya Allah, I've gotten a PhD" — it's okay, you should be able to pass? Neither our children will accompany us, nor will our families, nor will our money. The moment that breath leaves our body, that soul leaves our body — all of these things are no longer ours. The money is no longer ours; the hukm of it is already there, that it must be distributed among your inheritors, among your waratha. To such an extent — to go even further — if a man dies, after him, after his wife has completed her 'iddah, she is allowed to remarry; if a woman dies, a man is allowed to marry. What are we taking with us to our grave? Which of these endeavors that we are aspiring for in this dunya — which one of them will we show in front of Allah when we stand in front of Him?

Allah Ta'ala says:

One who fears his Lord, one who fears standing in front of his Lord — there will be two Jannahs. What fear, what type of fear have we brought in front of Allah?

The Hadith Qudsi: The Path to Becoming a Wali

In the hadith, the Prophet ﷺ gives the description of the Awliya. It starts off — it's a hadith qudsi that Allah Ta'ala revealed to the Prophet ﷺ, and the Prophet ﷺ now narrates it with his own words. Allah Ta'ala says — this is the maqam of the Awliya:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6502)

One who becomes an enemy to a Wali of Allah — if anyone decides to hurt him, to harm him in any way — Allah declares war against him: "I have announced war against him."

The Prophet ﷺ didn't leave it there, and Allah Ta'ala didn't leave it there. Allah Ta'ala actually gives you the way that you could become a Wali of Allah. What does Allah Ta'ala say?

"A servant of mine does not come close to me with something more beloved to me than what I have obligated on him."

The Obligatory Acts: Your Closest Path to Allah

This fasting — Sawm Ramadan — it's an obligation from Allah. How many of us, when we wake up in the morning and we're fasting, think to ourselves: "This is my way of getting close to Allah"? Or how many of us wake up thinking — "Ah man, it's another day, how many days left?" — ticking the days off until Eid. "14 more days, 15 more days — ah man, if you follow the calendar, if you follow moon sighting, it could be Sunday, it could be Monday, I don't know." Times going too slow, or times going too fast. How many of us actually think in the morning that this fasting that I'm doing — not eating, not drinking, protecting myself from all types of haram — that this is my means of getting close to Allah?

There is nothing that he gets closer to Me with than what I have obligated — which means two things: one, those things which I have made obligatory on him to do — the prayers, the fasting, the zakat. Don't think of zakat as a burden at the end of the year when you're calculating it. One should be thinking: "This is my opportunity to actually get close to Allah by giving this money." Not that you think about tax like that — no problem, I think of it like that too. Tax season is here — when I have to fill out, I'm thinking "oh my gosh, I have to give this much tax, property tax" — no problem. Zakat is not like that. Zakat is an ibadah. It is one of the pillars of faith.

Fasting is not a burden — fasting is a pillar of faith. The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 38; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 760)

One who fasts expecting and hoping for reward from Allah — Allah forgives his sins. And in another narration:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 37; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 759)

One who stands in prayer in the month of Ramadan hoping for reward from Allah — his sins are forgiven.

Drawing Nearer Through Nawafil

Allah Ta'ala continues in the hadith: "My servant then further continues to get closer to Me" — through what? Through nawafil, through the additional actions. He prays, he wakes up in the middle of the night —

He leaves his bed, the comfort of his bed, in the middle of the night — while the people are asleep — for no other reason except that he loves Allah and he fears Allah's punishment, and he stands in prayer to Allah. He spends his days allocating time for recitation of the Quran, doing tasbih of Allah, doing tahmid of Allah. The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6682; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2694)

Two words so beloved to Allah, yet light on the tongue, but very heavy on the scales:

Ramadan as Our Spiritual Milestone

So these are ways — alhamdulillah, we have this opportunity here in Ramadan. Don't think of it as a burden. Zakat — not a burden. Sawm — not a burden. Prayers — not a burden. These are ways of getting close to Allah. We are ready to sacrifice our sleep for work, we are ready to sacrifice our energy and our wealth for our worldly desires — why not sacrifice that for the sake of Allah?

This world that is left for us is just very little — time is going by very fast, we see that in front of us. Allah grant us tawfiq so that the rest of this month, we should use each month of Ramadan as our standard and our gauge, as a milestone: how did I improve from last year? Am I a better person? Am I coming to the masjid more? Am I more conscious of Allah? Do I have more taqwa? So on and so forth. Allah grant us tawfiq.

وَآخِرُ دَعْوَانَا أَنِ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ

Second Khutbah

الحمد لله رب العالمين، والصلاة والسلام على أشرف الأنبياء والمرسلين، وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين.

Amma ba'd.

O people — hold fast to Tawhid, for indeed Tawhid is the foundation of obedience. And fear Allah, for indeed taqwa is the key to all goodness. And hold fast to the Sunnah, for indeed the Sunnah guides to obedience. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has been guided aright. And beware of bid'ah, for indeed bid'ah leads to disobedience.

Al-Fatiha.