The Morning Mindset of a Muslim | Mufti Abdul Rahman Waheed

The Morning Mindset of a Muslim

Today's session is about the morning routine of a believer. You'll see that most of the morning routine of a believer has little to do with action and more to do with mindset. What are you thinking when you wake up in the morning? What are your thoughts? What are your aspirations? What are your regrets? This is all thoughts.

The Mindset Shift of Early Mecca

In early Mecca, the reality was that the commands were to pray, but as far as Ramadan, Zakat, Hajj — that came way after. But the mindset shift started. The mindset shift from min al-dunya il al-akhira — that we're not living for dunya, we're living for akhira. That started already. The mindset shift of sacrificing and struggling for dunya versus sacrificing and struggling for the right cause.

And what is an honorable thing? An honorable thing is that we can give our life for Allah. That's an honorable thing. It would be an honor for us — this mindset that it's my honor, this is everything — if my life could be to protect the religion of Allah.

The Story of Uthman ibn Madh'un

For example, in early Mecca, there was a Sahabi named Uthman ibn Madh'un. He was sitting in front of the Ka'bah while a poet was reciting. The poet said: every single thing other than Allah is null and void. He became a Muslim afterwards.

So the poet said the first line — everything other than Allah is batil. This man, Uthman ibn Madh'un, who was one of the first Muhajireen to be buried in Baqi' when they migrated to Medina — upon hearing this, he said: "You have spoken the truth."

Then the poet said the next line: and every single enjoyment one day will come to an end. Now, the people of Mecca — the kuffar of Mecca — one thing about them is they never believed in Akhira. They had no belief in Akhira. And that's why almost every page in the Quran has a fragrance of Akhira on it — Akhira, Akhira, Akhira, Akhira — almost every page.

So when he heard that line, he said:

"You are lying, because the enjoyment of Jannah will never end."

He said this at a time where the believers were told to stay private about their belief, because the opposition was very, very strong. So when he said this, it became public right there that he was a Muslim. So what did everyone do? They jumped him. They jumped him, and he had beautiful eyes. So one person went and stabbed his eye, and he was injured in his eye for the rest of his life.

At this point, his uncle, Walid ibn Mughira — Khalid's father — said to him:

"Oh my nephew, why did you put your beautiful eye through this? You could have just stayed quiet."

The next sentence is what I'm speaking about in terms of mindset. He replied:

"Oh my uncle, the eye that can see wishes it was the eye that cannot see. Because the eye that cannot see is honored — it was sacrificed for Allah."

So I feel bad for the eye that can see. Because the eye that can see wishes it was the eye that was sacrificed. This is the mindset.

Umar ibn al-Khattab and the Warrior of Yarmouk

Umar ibn al-Khattab walks into a room one day after the Battle of Yarmouk. He sees a person by the name of Amr ibn Tufayl ibn Amr. Tufayl ibn Amr was a Sahabi who passed away in the Battle of Yamama, and his son passed away in the Battle of Yarmouk. They were both shoulder to shoulder in battle, and they both intended to become shaheed. The father became shaheed, but the son's arm was martyred — his right arm was amputated.

At that time, there was no treatment for open wounds other than burning them. He was among those Sahaba who were not of the opinion that you should burn your open wounds, and so his wound was left open — and of course, his blood was leaking.

Umar ibn al-Khattab walks into the room. Right when he sees Umar walking in, he quickly concludes: Umar will get disgusted sitting next to me while eating food, so let me move away. Umar observes this, and right away says to him:

"Why did you move away? Come here! By Allah, I will not eat from this plate until you eat from it with me. There is no one among the people whose body is already in Jannah except you."

So it is an honor to sit next to you. They understood this mindset. They truly understood it.

The Family of Christchurch

You know, at Christchurch — remember many years ago, there was a shooting during Jumu'ah, and many people became shaheed? I went there a few days right after that. I was with Sheikh Omar Suleiman and a few brothers from America. We went there.

We visited a family — there was a brother who was there with his son, praying Jumu'ah. His son was probably seven or eight years old. The father was 33 years old. His father was an elderly man sitting on a chair. When the shooter came in, this man jumped on his father to protect him, while the child jumped on him. So he jumped on his father, the shooter came, he protected his father — and his son jumped on him. And Allah accepted both the son and the father as shuhada, while the grandfather survived. They passed away on top of each other.

So imagine going to their home for the first time to offer condolences. This is a Palestinian family — they are built different. We went to see the mother, the grandmother. She was there. Her daughter — the wife of the man who passed away — was also there. And they were presenting us knafeh, sweets. And the mother said:

"Today is such a beautiful day. A mother lives her entire life so that her son is religious, so that her son is accepted by Allah. And today, my son and my grandson were accepted by Allah. Allah accepted them. It's such an honor."

A completely different mindset, isn't it?

The Mindset of the People of Gaza

In Gaza, there are also Christians — the oldest church communities, Christians for thousands of years. If you hear their statements about loved ones who have died, their words are: "We lost this, we lost that, we lost this, we're in difficulties, we lost this, we lost that" — all about loss, all about sadness.

Then the next person speaks — a Muslim — and they say: "Oh, my brother, he is happy. My mother is smiling." What is the difference? Mindset. This person knows he didn't lose anything — he only gained. He only gained more people at the gates of Jannah to wait for them. While the other person doesn't believe in that. That's the only difference.

When a Palestinian brother from Ramallah heard the news about my father's son who passed away, he said: "Doctor, I'm not sure if I should congratulate you or give you condolences — because congratulations to the father of the shuhada." That changes everything.

Sa'd ibn Mu'adh at the Battle of Badr

When the Battle of Badr approached, and the Prophet ﷺ was asking the Ansar if they were ready to move forward — one of the things that Sa'd ibn Mu'adh said, according to one narration, was: "Take whatever you want from our money. Whatever you want."

Think about this today. If the Prophet ﷺ were alive today, wouldn't we say the same thing to him? Take anything. And what would our feeling be? The same thing that Sa'd himself said to the Prophet ﷺ:

"Oh Prophet of Allah, the money and wealth that you take is more beloved to us than the money you leave behind. Because we know that is accepted. It is an honor for us that you accepted that money."

So this mindset shift started in early Makkah, before any major obligations were even legislated. Look — if you're doing a'mal without the mindset shift, then what's the difference between us and the munafiqeen? Allah says the munafiqeen also remember Allah. He didn't say the munafiqeen don't pray Salah. He didn't say the kuffar of Makkah don't love Allah.

Allah says about the people of Makkah who worship idols — they love idols the way they love Allah. They love idols and they also love Allah. But those who believe in Allah, there is nothing that compares to their love for Allah. That's it.

The Three Morning Thoughts of a Believer

Coming back to what the morning of a believer should look like — it's about mindset more than anything else. If you do a small study on the word asbaha — meaning to wake up in the morning — you will find many ahadith about this.

When we wake up in the morning, there are three thoughts we should have.

First Thought: Gratitude for Safety and Health

The Prophet ﷺ said: a person who wakes up in the morning in a state of peace — amanah fi surbih — we should think about that and be grateful. We're not hearing the sounds of drones the whole night as our brothers and sisters in Gaza do. We just got in the car and came here. We're not in a state of war right now. We should think about that and be grateful.

Our teacher shared an audio from inside a masjid in Gaza during Ramadan. They were praying Salah, and the imam was reciting Surah Yasin in a beautiful voice. And then — right at one of the last verses — you heard a thunderous sound of a bomb hitting a place nearby. The homes right next to the masjid. SubhanAllah, the imam did not even flinch for one second. He did not even flinch. And when they searched afterwards, it was his family who had been made shaheed. The house next door.

So we want the morning routine of a believer to begin with an attitude of complete gratitude. We are so grateful to Allah for whatever we have — even if we have nothing. Alhamdulillah. We thank Allah for giving us life again. Another chance. The first thing a believer says is Alhamdulillah.

And then he thinks — I'm going to stay in peace. I don't have any terminal illness. People all over the world every single day are being diagnosed with terminal illnesses. They come to the hospital with a regular stomach pain. They do some tests. And then, next thing you know — stage four cancer. Allah protect us all, and those who are sick, may Allah grant them shifaa kamilah.

The Prophet ﷺ said: if you have enough food to eat for one day, one day — this man is as if he is the king of the world. So be grateful for that.

Second Thought: Akhira Before Dunya

A person wakes up in the morning — what should be their mindset? The Prophet ﷺ said: if a person wakes up in the morning and the most prominent thought on their mind is something about dunya — look, dunya is important. In the verses of Surah al-Dhariyat, Allah says about the muttaqeen:

They stay awake at night, and then in the early morning they do istighfar — asking Allah for forgiveness for their shortcomings in their ibadah. And Allah speaks right away about their money — in their wealth there is a stipulated amount for those who ask and those who are deprived. And in the earth there are signs for those who believe.

These verses are an indication that Allah is saying: go make money. Because if you don't have money, how are you going to give it? We have to make money. We have to get up and make, inshallah, a lot of money. Right now there should be an effort to make as much money as possible because we can give more for the people of Gaza. No problem. But that should not be the first thought on your mind.

The Hadith: Two Types of Morning Mindset

Our teachers give this example: a person wakes up in the morning, and the first thing they do is pick up their phone. They check notifications, check Facebook. This is very detrimental to the soul. This is not the routine of a believer. Do that all day, but not the first thing — and not the last thing at night.

The last thing at night should be Salat al-Nabi ﷺ, dhikr, dhikr, dhikr — sleep like that. And the first thing in the morning should not be taking your phone and checking it. Turn off the alarm, go do wudu, come back, pray two raka'at — just give it ten minutes before you check your phone.

The Prophet ﷺ is saying: a person who does this — meaning who turns towards dunya first thing in the morning —

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2465)

Allah will put poverty between this person's eyes — meaning this person will always be restless. And He will scatter their affairs. Imagine taking a piece of paper, putting it in a shredder, scattering those shredded particles all over the room, and then telling someone to pick it up. He's not picking up more paper — but he's taking so much more time to pick up the same amount. Allah shreds their affairs. What was supposed to take one day ends up taking one month. What was supposed to take one month ends up taking six months.

And at the end of the day, you don't get more from the dunya than what was written for you — but with extra effort. You still get the same amount.

The opposite happens to a person who doesn't do that. Someone who develops a different habit — like Junaid Jamshed, rahimahullah, who had a habit that he would not look at his accounts, his computer, or his phone until after Ishraq. Wake up in the morning, pray Tahajjud, Fajr, Ishraq — then he would start. He would just dedicate that portion. Some people have these different habits. Whatever your habit is, develop it.

For someone who develops a habit like that, the Prophet ﷺ says:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2465)

Allah puts contentment in that person's heart. This person feels so wealthy, so good — he doesn't need anything. And those things that were scattered, Allah puts them together for him. And dunya keeps coming to this person even though this person doesn't want it. Allah keeps giving it to you.

So if you just change your mindset, everything around you changes.

Conclusion: Two Pillars of the Believer's Morning

The routine of a believer is a mindset change — with gratitude, first of all. And second of all, initial thoughts about akhira, not dunya. Wake up with gratitude, and wake up with concern about your akhira.

How can this day of mine be utilized in a way where I can get closer to Allah? Yesterday, how did I spend my day? Did I get closer to Allah?

If you can't think of anything of akhira — at least, don't spend your morning initially thinking of dunya. If you can't think of any a'mal, any good deeds, then at least the first five to ten minutes of your morning, the thought of dunya should not enter. Maybe have a blank — don't think of anything. But don't take the phone. Don't do this.

Inshallah, those of us who do that — we have seen miracles happen in their lives. And these are things that the Sahaba used to do on a daily basis. They used to stay in the masjid until Ishraq, they used to pray Ishraq. This was a daily routine of the Prophet ﷺ and the Sahaba. This is what they did every single day. This is what made them successful in dunya and akhira. So if we just implement this, we will also become like that.

Allah is waiting for us to give. We just have to do the effort.