5 Pieces of Advice from the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم - Shaykh Mustafa Abu Rayyan

5 Pieces of Advice from the Prophet ﷺ

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. My beloved brothers and sisters, I start by praising Allah Almighty and sending blessings and salutations upon our beloved Messenger Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. I thank Allah for allowing us to congregate here in this masjid and continue worshipping him and doing the wajibat and staying away from sins and muharramat.

I thank Allah for blessing us as we are in these blessed days — the days of Tashreeq, days of eating and drinking and the remembrance of Allah. And it is on that note of remembrance of Allah, I would like to remind myself and all of you of a great narration that was narrated from our beloved Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him.

One day our Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, spoke to his companions and he said to them: "Who amongst you will take these statements and words from me, and will act upon these statements, or teach it to someone that will act upon these statements?" The Prophet is saying: I am about to share with you these statements — which one among you will, number one, act upon them, and two, teach it to others so they can also act upon them?

It was the great companion Abu Hurairah that said: "I will, O Messenger of Allah." The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, then grabbed him by the hand and enumerated and counted five points — and these are the five points that I want to share with you today. Let us all be amongst those that the Prophet requested: when you hear these statements, not only do you act upon them, but you spread them to others and teach them as well.

The Five Pieces of Advice

1. Guard Yourself Against Sin and Prohibitions

Profound and beneficial statements by our beloved, peace and blessings be upon him. He said: guard yourself against sin and prohibitions. Protect yourself from sinning and from falling into prohibitions. And if you do so, you will be among the best worshippers.

In other words, all of us in this life, this dunya, are striving to become the best servant to Allah as we can be. You want to be the best worshipper. The Prophet is telling us: do you want to be the one that worships Allah the most? Stay away from sin. Stay away from prohibitions. That is what we need to focus on.

It is all fine and great that we are praying Taraweeh and we are praying Nawafil and we are learning Islamic sciences and we are giving Sadaqah. Those are acts of worship that we should do — but more importantly, you must stay away from sin. Guard your eyes from sin, guard your tongue from sin, guard your body from sin, do not harm or oppress others, do not fall into prohibitions. That is what detracts from you being a good servant to Allah. And it is extremely important that you ask yourself: what are the sins that I am engaged in, the ones that I do often? You need to work on that so that you can be among the best worshippers.

A great man from the Salaf said: the best worshippers are not simply those that remember Allah through dhikr. We are now in the Ayyam al-Tashreeq and it is recommended for us to read the tahleel — لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ — and the takbeer — اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ. He said that dhikr that you do, which we should do, and it is one of the greatest acts of worship, that type of remembrance is good. But a better type of remembrance is when you remember Allah as you are about to engage in a sin and stop yourself.

So you have one person who is doing his dhikr: سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ، الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ، لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ، اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ. Please, ikhwan fi Allah, become among those that commit a lot of dhikr. May Allah make us among the الذَّاكِرِينَ اللَّهَ كَثِيرًا وَالذَّاكِرَاتِ. But he said: it is even better for you to become the person that actually remembers Allah when you are about to engage in sin.

Some brothers start chatting and talking about someone that is not present. Or, sisters, you are in a gathering and all of a sudden ghibah, backbiting, starts. It is a nice story and you want to add your two cents — but then you remember Allah. That is the type of remembrance and stopping from prohibition that we need to start applying in our lives.

Fear Allah in this regard. It is our sins that are weighing us down. It is our sins that will lead to our destruction in dunya and akhira. It is our sins that we need to get rid of. And you will not be able to get rid of all of them — which is why you should live your life as a person that repents often. But just because the door of repentance is open does not mean sin as much as you want. Stop yourself from sinning. Guard yourself against prohibitions. And you will be among the best of worshippers.

2. Be Satisfied with Whatever Allah Has Given You

Then he said: be satisfied with whatever Allah has given you in this world, and you will be among the richest of people. Now richness, when the Prophet ﷺ talks about it, is not talking about having a lot of cars, having millions and millions of pounds and dollars, having gold and silver and great mansions. This is not the richness that we as Muslims strive for or believe in.

There is nothing wrong with that, of course. If Allah blessed you with wealth, khair. But the Prophet is saying: true richness is that you are pleased with what Allah has given you.

And this is something that we are losing as Muslims. It should not matter whether you go to a 9 to 5 or you have a Fortune 500 business or you have whatever job you have and whatever station you are in life. It does not matter to Allah. What matters is: what kind of servant are you? What kind of Muslim are you? What do you do with that which Allah has given you? And are you pleased with what Allah has given you?

Nowadays, because of social media, because of certain individuals that are really creating this culture of — you need to earn that back, you need to chase the millions, you are not a good person if you do not have all this money, look at me, I have mansions, I have millions, I have these cars — and what is the Prophet saying to Abu Hurairah? Be pleased with what Allah has given you.

I am not telling you, nor is the Prophet telling us, that we should not try and earn. There were many companions that had a lot of money — but it did not get to their hearts. It did not get to their heads. It did not matter. If it really mattered to be so rich, why was Prophet Muhammad ﷺ not rich? If it really mattered to be so wealthy, why was Prophet Isa not rich? It does not matter. And we as Muslims have put too much importance on this issue.

Nonetheless, look at the Prophet's statement: be pleased with what Allah has given you. Even as you go in the dunya and you are earning more and more, and you may get a promotion, or your business might work out or might not work out — no matter what happens, whether you are getting richer, or poorer, or stagnant — be pleased. And once you have that satisfaction, you will be among the richest of people.

Like the Prophet ﷺ said in another hadith: true richness and wealth is the richness of the heart.

Whether you are eating just bread and water, or you are at a very nice and lavish restaurant — in the end of the day, alhamdulillah, all praise belongs to Allah.

3. Be Kind to Your Neighbour

The amount of focus our religion has put on our neighbours is amazing, my brothers and sisters. Angel Jibril came down to the Prophet ﷺ reminding him of the neighbour, the neighbour, the neighbour — until the Prophet said: I thought that the neighbour would share in the inheritance of the person.

The Prophet ﷺ also said:

"By Allah, he does not believe; by Allah, he does not believe; by Allah, he does not believe — the one whose neighbour is not safe from his harm." (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6016)

So take your neighbours seriously. At the very least, ensure you never harm them. Those among you that live in flats, those among you that have children — be considerate, extra considerate. It is an act of worship. Those among you that park in an inconsiderate way, harming your neighbours, or leave the trash overflowing and your neighbours do not like that, or you are too loud and your neighbours complain — fear Allah.

The Prophet ﷺ once told us about a woman who was asked about: a worshipping woman who prays, makes qiyam, and has a lot of ibadah — but she had one problem: she would speak badly against her neighbours. The Prophet said: she is going to the fire. And then he was asked about a woman who does not do as much ibadah, but was kind to her neighbours — and that will result in her forgiveness.

The issue of the neighbours — let us take that seriously. Take that home with you. Teach this to your children, to your wives, to your husbands. Be good to your neighbour and you will be a believer. May Allah make us among the true believers.

4. Love for the People What You Love for Yourself

Love for the people what you love for yourself and you will be a true submitter, a Muslim. Now again, this is a statement that we hear often — but have we internalized it? Genuinely loving for others good and acting upon that principle: that you want guidance for others so you strive towards it. You want others to have khair in their lives. So the advice that you give people, the way you speak to them, the dua that you make for them, how you help them — all of it will change once you adopt this mentality.

And you know what that gets rid of completely? An illness that is within the ummah — and that is envy and jealousy. What gets rid of envy and jealousy? When you love for the people what you love for yourself. So when you hear that someone got married, or someone's business is working out, or someone, mashaAllah, is regularly coming to the masjid, or someone starts practicing — you say: alhamdulillah, more khair in the ummah. And you strive towards that. That is what makes you a true Muslim.

In fact, the Prophet ﷺ said in another narration:

"None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself." (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 13; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 45)

So be that kind of person, my brothers and sisters — that you love for others what you love for yourself, and let that truly manifest in your life.

5. Do Not Engage in Excessive Laughter

The Prophet ﷺ is reminding us that someone who is constantly laughing and not taking life seriously, this has an adverse effect on the heart. This is not a statement telling you that you cannot be happy, cannot be joyful, cannot laugh. Look at the statement of your Prophet ﷺ: كَثْرَةُ الضَّحِكِ — increased amount of laughter, where your whole life is a joke and then another joke and you are not taking life seriously. This is not the way of the believer.

And how can we be someone that does not take life seriously, that is always laughing and joking, when we have Allah's account waiting for us? Allah will hold us accountable. We have death waiting for us. We have the grave waiting for us. We have to ensure that we do not meet Allah with sins and have as many good deeds as possible. We have responsibilities for our families and so much more.

Do not be that person that is carefree. The believer is not carefree. We are burdened with a great trust and amanah — to be worshippers of Allah and to live our lives not according to our whims and desires, but according to the will of Allah.

Summary of the Five Pieces of Advice

I will quickly recap the statements of the Prophet ﷺ:

One: اتَّقِ الْمَحَارِمَ تَكُنْ أَعْبَدَ النَّاسِ — Stay away from prohibitions and you will be the best worshipper. What is stopping you from being a good worshipper is your sins.

Two: Be pleased with that which Allah has given you and you will be the richest among the people.

Three: Be kind to your neighbours and you will be a true believer.

Four: Love for the people what you love for yourself and you will be a true Muslim.

Five: Do not engage in excessive laughter, for indeed it kills the heart.

I ask Allah to make us among those that benefit from these statements, and among those of whom the Prophet said: who will take these statements, act upon them, and teach them to others so that they can also act upon them.