Achieving Your Goals - Shaykh Aqeel Mahmood

Opening — Khutbah al-Hajah

إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلَّهِ نَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ وَنَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا، مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ.

أَمَّا بَعْدُ، فَإِنَّ أَصْدَقَ الْحَدِيثِ كِتَابُ اللَّهِ وَخَيْرَ الْهَدْيِ هَدْيُ مُحَمَّدٍ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، وَشَرَّ الْأُمُورِ مُحْدَثَاتُهَا، وَكُلَّ مُحْدَثَةٍ بِدْعَةٌ، وَكُلَّ بِدْعَةٍ ضَلَالَةٌ، وَكُلَّ ضَلَالَةٍ فِي النَّارِ.

Brothers and sisters, earlier today I delivered the Eid khutbah and in that khutbah we talked about three things. I want to talk more and continue the themes and topics discussed in the khutbah which I gave a few hours ago.

Part One: The Illness of Procrastination and Laziness

The first thing I talked about was the illness which spreads amongst our community — which causes us to do less good deeds, not due to any external factor but due to our own selves, due to our own weaknesses. This was the weakness and the illness of procrastination and laziness. Many of us suffer from this illness in one way or another.

The scholars, and even as I mentioned earlier, Allah mentions in the Quran this act of laziness and He connects it to the hypocrites — how the hypocrites, when they would stand for the Salah, they would stand lazy, like they couldn't be bothered. They're just doing it to show other people that they pray. Everyone else is praying, so they're going to have to go and pray so that people don't think they're not Muslim, so that nobody will say anything against them.

And they don't remember Allah except a small amount. So even when they do pray, it's just a formality. It's something that they've been doing for days, weeks, months, years — it's just a formality. It's just something they have to do, they're required to do it. They're showing other people that they can do it — they're doing it, but it's not something they use to remember Allah by, it's not something they use to gain closeness to Allah with. So even when they do pray, they're not focused, they're not conscious of the fact that they're in the presence of Allah.

So this is the danger of laziness, brothers and sisters. The sahabah radiyallahu anhum ajma'een — the companions — they would be so afraid of being from the munafiqeen, because a hypocrite doesn't do an act of worship for the correct reason, and nifaq is something which can creep up on you without you even realizing. You may do an act of worship and it may be for a reason other than Allah. We may have come for the Eid prayer with other intentions — to meet other people, to show our face, to show how well we've dressed — and the intention sometimes isn't for the sake of Allah.

So the sahabah were very afraid of falling into this trap of being a hypocrite — to the extent that Umar radiyallahu anhu would ask the companion who was known as Sahib al-Sirr — the one who knew the names of the hypocrites — he would go to him and ask: "Am I one of those hypocrites that the Messenger of Allah mentioned?" Because of the fear they would have.

So when we look at laziness, brothers and sisters, it's something which is very dangerous because it can lead to nifaq. When a person becomes careless with regards to his actions and acts of worship, he ends up doing them for other reasons. We try to look for other benefits, other incentives for acts of worship — "I'll pray because it's good to keep fit, it's exercise." "I'll go to the masjid because it's close and I'll walk it, it's good for me." "I'll fast because it's healthy, everyone fasts these days, it's the trend." When the core and actual reason why we should be doing acts of worship doesn't dawn on us, and we become lazy with them and try to find other reasons — that actual worship being done with the incorrect intention isn't valid anymore, it doesn't count anymore.

When we look at the scholars and what they said about laziness, we see many statements warning about its dangers. One of the scholars of the past talked about how procrastination was the most important weapon of Shaytan. Why? Because a person intends to do a good deed — a person had the intention to fast on the greatest day of the year, but for no genuine reason, just out of laziness, he never ended up doing it. He couldn't wake up for suhoor, and then he thought to himself, "Well, I haven't woken up for suhoor, so it's going to be hard for me to fast now." Maybe he even misses Fajr. Somebody intended to offer qurbani — the udhiyyah — for this Eid, and days go by and he hasn't done anything. By the time the day comes, it's too late. By the time the prayer happens, that's the deadline, and it's too late for him to do an udhiyyah.

When actions are delayed, the reward is missed. And when the reward is missed, you're missing out on an opportunity to add to your scale of good deeds on the Day of Judgement. This is why the scholars would say: whenever a door of good deeds opens for you, an opportunity comes to do something good — the doors of perhaps and soon open up alongside it from Shaytan. There will be an opportunity for you to do something, but instead you'll think: "Perhaps I can do something else — something easier, less hassle. Maybe there's another way." Or you'll say: "I'll do it in a bit. I'll do it tomorrow. Next week. Plenty of time." And so the action in and of itself isn't done, because of one's laziness and procrastination.

Part Two: Focusing on Your Goals

We talked earlier, in the morning, about the importance of focusing on one's goals — and how an individual should have goals in order to achieve other goals. We talked about the ultimate goal of every single Muslim, which is to attain paradise. And we said that in order to attain that ultimate goal of Jannah, he has to have other goals — otherwise he won't achieve that ultimate goal.

This is many times what happens. We're all Muslim, we all claim to be Muslim, we all have the same objective and goal in mind — but how we get there is something we're lacking. The steps we're taking to attain and achieve that goal are something we're struggling with. We do certain things that paralyze us, that stop us from attaining good deeds. And as I mentioned earlier, time is like a blessing — as time goes on you're getting closer and closer to your death, and death is something of a certainty.

This is why Imam al-Hasan al-Basri — as I mentioned previously — would say: "I have never seen anything that people are so sure of, yet more neglectful of, than death itself." Every single person knows it's going to take place — Muslim or non-Muslim — but it's the most neglected thing. It's as if we think it's never going to happen to us; it's going to happen to those who are around us — a different city, a different country, a different neighbourhood, a different family.

And when it happens to somebody who is close to us, maybe that's when we wake up and smell the coffee. We realize this is something which can happen at any time. A loved one passes away who was fit, healthy, young, strong — he was with us at Ramadan and Eid, he was with us a few weeks ago, and now he's passed away. It's a shock to the system. Even though it's something that every single one of us knows is going to happen, when it does actually take place it's a shock to us. That's because this dunya, brothers and sisters, is like a mirage — it's not real. It distracts us from the ultimate goal.

When the reality hits us that we can go at any moment in time, that's when we wake up. When a loved one passes away, that's when we realize. When death comes knocking at our door, that's when we realize: "I've wasted all my time." Your life flashes before you, as they say, and you think about all the opportunities you had, all the chances you had, all the things you could have done — but you weren't able to do because you never grasped the time and the opportunities you had in front of you.

We talked about attaining goals and how even in a football match there are certain objectives before you try to score — you can't just keep shooting and hope for the best, there are tactics and strategies you have to have. There are goals within goals. Likewise in life, brothers and sisters, each and every single one of us needs to realize how we all have our own specific ways of entering into Jannah. We just need to figure out what it is that gives us the ability to aim for that ultimate goal. How has Allah blessed us, and with what specific skills, so that we are able to achieve the pleasure of Allah and attain this ultimate goal?

The Story of the Companions at the Ka'bah

Once a group of companions were sitting by the Ka'bah, discussing and having a conversation. From them were Urwa radiyallahu anhu, Mus'ab ibn Umayr, Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr, and Abdullah ibn Umar radiyallahu anhum ajma'een.

Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr said: "My aspiration and goal is one day to be the leader of the Muslims." Urwa radiyallahu anhu said: "I hope that one day people will come to me and take knowledge from me." Mus'ab ibn Umayr radiyallahu anhu said: "I hope one day to marry such-and-such a woman and to become the leader and governor of Iraq." And Abdullah ibn Umar radiyallahu anhu said: "I hope that one day Allah accepts my forgiveness — because of my continuous asking of Allah to forgive me."

The narrator said that later on, Mus'ab ibn Umayr did indeed marry the woman he intended to marry, and he did become the governor of Iraq. Urwa ibn al-Zubayr radiyallahu anhu did indeed have people coming to him, and he became one of the great scholars — people would actually learn from him. Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr became the leader — even if for a short time — of the Hijaz and Mecca. And the narrator said: "I hope that Abdullah ibn Umar was forgiven by Allah, because of the amount of times that he would ask Allah for forgiveness."

The point here, brothers and sisters, is how each and every one of these companions had the same goal in mind — they all had the intention of pleasing Allah — but the method, the route, and the path they took in order to please Allah, to attain the reward of Allah, to attain paradise itself, was different. Some knew the strengths they had as a leader. Others knew the strengths they had as teachers. Others knew that they were able to worship Allah more than others, continuously asking Allah for forgiveness.

Each and every single one of us, brothers and sisters, has our strengths and our weaknesses, and we need to recognize them. Just as with children — those of us who have children or younger siblings — we recognize what their strengths and weaknesses are, what they're good at, what they're not good at, and we assign tasks accordingly. At work, you're assigning tasks to people based on their strengths and their weaknesses. Likewise, brothers and sisters, when we're aiming for the akhirah, there are certain things we know we're capable of doing that will bring us closer to paradise.

The Example of Imam Malik

There is a famous story of Imam Malik. A scholar sent him a letter advising him to pray more, to increase in his salawat, because Imam Malik was always teaching. Imam Malik responded and said: "Every single one of us has his or her own strength. Some of us, Allah has blessed by being able to give wealth. Others, Allah has blessed by being able to join the Muslim army and fight. Others have been blessed by Allah by being able to perform salawat and worship Allah throughout the day and night. Others," he said, "Allah has blessed them by being able to teach others — and this is what Allah has blessed me with." And he said: "I hope that you and I are both admitted into paradise because of the acts of worship that we are doing."

Meaning, there's not just one way of entering paradise. There are many different ways of entering into Jannah. But it's about a person recognizing what is easy for him — whether it's fasting, whether it's performing salawat, whether it's reciting and memorizing the Quran, whether it's studying and pursuing knowledge, whether it's giving da'wah, whether it's writing — whatever the specialty may be, a person has to recognize these things and then aim for Jannah itself.

The Example of Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz

Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz rahimahullah — when we look at his life, he talks about how he would always aim higher. Every time he had a goal and objective in mind, once he had accomplished that goal, once he had met that objective, he would always look higher and see what was next for him on the horizon. It wasn't a matter of setting a goal and once he had accomplished it, that's it — there's always something else, always another way for him to attain his goal.

He said: "When I was younger, I had an aspiration to seek knowledge. So I would go out and seek knowledge and study. I left those children I used to play with and started to pursue knowledge, and I became a student of knowledge. When I studied, I then had an aspiration to marry Fatimah bint Abd al-Malik, the daughter of the leader Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan — and I achieved that goal. Then my goal was to become the governor of Medina — and I achieved this goal. Then my goal was to become the leader of the Muslims — and I achieved this goal as well."

So those around him asked: "What is your aspiration now? What is your goal? What do you desire?" He said: "I desire paradise." Paradise was always his goal from the beginning — everything else was a means to an end. The goal was always paradise, but he had other things he was doing in order to attain that ultimate goal.

I say this and ask Allah to forgive me and you. He is the Forgiving, the Merciful.

Second Khutbah

In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate. Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. Peace and blessings be upon the Messengers and Prophets, our Prophet Muhammad and his family and companions.

Part Three: Learning to Make Mistakes

Brothers and sisters, we were talking about the importance of overcoming laziness, and once an individual overcomes laziness he is able to focus on the goals that he wants to achieve — all of these goals ultimately leading him into paradise. The third thing I wanted to talk about, after overcoming laziness and focusing on your goals, is the importance of not just learning from your mistakes — but learning to make mistakes.

Because today in society, we end up being scared of doing something for fear of being ostracized, for fear of others saying things about us because we decided to do something. Sometimes the scholars of the past would have someone ask them a question. The questioner would say: "I sometimes go to the masjid and I pray, but I'm afraid when I'm praying that others are watching me. As a result, I shorten my prayer — I don't prolong it — because I'm afraid that I'm doing it for the wrong reason, showing off, to show others how long I can pray."

The scholars would reply — and subhanAllah, see how Shaytan can play with a person's mind — one of the traps of Shaytan is that he can make somebody do less of a good deed than he could have done. A person intends to pray the whole night and Shaytan tells him: "Don't pray the whole night, because if you pray the whole night you'll be too tired." So the scholars would say: if this happens in your salah and you feel like you're showing off, this is the trap of Shaytan — he just wants you to hasten your prayer, because he doesn't want you to pray. What's in your best interest is to continue to pray. In fact, the scholars would say: if you have this waswasah — these whisperings from Shaytan — that you should shorten your prayer, then pray even longer, prolong your prayer even more, until you're sure you're doing it for the sake of Allah and not for the sake of people around you.

The point being, brothers and sisters: when we have these goals in mind and we try to accomplish them, we're doing it for the sake of Allah. No matter what other individuals may say, or criticize us, or put us down with regards to our initiatives and projects — anything we intend to do — we always have to realize why we're doing the things we're doing. It goes back to the issue of riya' and hypocrisy and nifaq. If you're doing something to please the people, then when it comes to a choice between pleasing Allah or pleasing the people, you may end up pleasing the people instead — because that's what you've been doing for the last few months or years.

Aiming to achieve your goals, brothers and sisters — you're bound to make errors, you're bound to make mistakes. When you start initiatives, when you start projects, when you want to do something to benefit the Muslims, you're going to make mistakes. As we said in the morning:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2499; Ibn Majah, Hadith 4251)

Every son of Adam makes mistakes — that's the default. And the best of those who make mistakes are those who repent to Allah. Meaning they recognize the errors they make, they don't just continue without thinking about them, without regretting them, without learning from them. One of the conditions of tawbah is to recognize the mistake you've made — the sin you've done — and then, once you've recognized that sin, to make a promise to yourself that you won't fall into that error again. The same applies to the mistakes we make on a day-to-day basis.

When a person goes to school and makes a mistake, he doesn't say: "That's the end of my education, that's the end of my life as a student. I'm not going to go to school anymore because I'm a failure." When we go to work and we make a mistake, we don't say: "That's it, it's over for me, I might as well quit." It's a means to an end — you're learning. You either win or you learn. There's no such thing as losing in Islam; a person benefits from mistakes in the future.

The Incident of the Slander Against Aisha and the Lesson of Tayammum

Aisha radiyallahu anha — when she was traveling with the Messenger of Allah — in the famous story of the slander against Aisha — she was looking for her necklace when the people who were carrying the enclosed litter that she was sitting in, which was placed on top of her riding mount (as was the custom for the wives of the Messenger of Allah), lifted it up not realizing that she wasn't in it, and made their way back to Medina. This was a mistake on their part. But if you look at the fawa'id and the benefits from the slander of Aisha — from this whole incident — scholars have mentioned over 100, maybe more than 100, benefits from this story: the issue of being careful about small things; her necklace was made of onyx and was something she wanted to find even though it wasn't worth much; the issue of traveling without a mahram; and, among others, the ruling of tayammum — the ruling of dry ablution came about as a result of this incident of the slander against Aisha.

Meaning, there were so many benefits from these small errors which were made. So when a person is starting something new, he's going to make mistakes — just like when you're in school, just like when you're at work. But the key, brothers and sisters, is to learn from them, to benefit from them, to make them part of your overall experience in order to please Allah.

Closing Du'a

We ask Allah that He gives us the ability to overcome laziness, and that Allah gives us the ability to make clear our focus and our goals in order for us to attain the akhirah, and that Allah gives us the ability to learn from our mistakes.