Building a Better Tomorrow

By Shaykh Walid | 2026-06-09T12:29:18.587283+00:00 | Topic: Hope

Building a Better Tomorrow

All praise is due to Allah and His praise and blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam. My dear brothers and sisters, I always believe that we will have a better tomorrow. No matter what happens or how bad it seems today, life goes on and it will be better tomorrow.

My mindset is always that there is always room for improvement. Every day is an opportunity for a better tomorrow. And if we want to build a better tomorrow for all of us, for our family, for our community, for our country, for our nation, for the world, and most importantly for ourselves, these are some tips that I do believe will help us to build a better tomorrow.

1. Be Always Optimistic

Number one, we need to learn how to be always optimistic and not to lose sight of optimism. Optimism is the most important human trait because it always allows us to evolve our ideas, to improve our situation, and to hope for a better tomorrow. Optimism is all based on your belief in Al-Qadar and believing in the nature of Allah, that all goods come from Him and all goods are in His hand. And He will never decree anything upon a person unless it is better for him or her.

2. Learn to Live with Differences

If we want to build a better tomorrow, we need to learn how to live with differences and learn how to deal with them. It is essential if we are looking for a better tomorrow to learn how to live with our differences, to be respectful of our differences, and to know how to deal with them.

The four Imams — just in our heritage as Muslims — we have the four Imams, the four madhabs. And we have so many other opinions and madhabs as well. With all the differences that you will notice between them when it comes to their opinions, they maintained love. They maintained connections. They sat with each other. They narrated from one another. They praised one another. The scholars, if they disagree on matters of the madhabs, they have agreed on the obligation of loving one another.

My brothers and sisters, we need to learn how to accept one another, even if we don't agree with each other. Imam Ahmad, may Allah have mercy on him, asked one of his students, "Where did you come from?" He saw some of his students coming with their notes. He said, "Where did you come from?" They said, "We came from Abu Kuraib." Abu Kuraib was someone who Imam Ahmad had criticisms of on certain matters. Imam Ahmad said, "What a good man. Take from him and learn from him. He is a good scholar. Definitely a great scholar. Learn from him."

So the student said, "Ya Imam, do you know that he says this and that about you? You are not his favorite person. He would never say the same thing about you." Then Imam Ahmad said, "What can I do? I know that, but what can I do? He is a righteous man, a good man. But I am his test in life. I became his test in life. Allah tested his patience and is testing his patience and manners through me. That's what it is." He said, "What can I do? He is a righteous man, a good man."

Al-A'mash, who is one of the great scholars, used to narrate a hadith from Zir ibn Hubaysh. Abu Wa'il and Zir ibn Hubaysh used to prefer Ali over Uthman. Abu Wa'il used to prefer Uthman over Ali. These two scholars, Zir ibn Hubaysh and Abu Wa'il, had a disagreement. At that time, people debated which one was better — Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, or Uthman. One of them used to prefer Ali over Uthman, and the other, Uthman over Ali. But this opinion, that position, never caused them to hate one another, or to say bad words about one another, or to accuse the other of being Shia, or being against Ahl al-Bayt, or anything like that. To the extent that Al-A'mash said: Abu Wa'il and Zir were together, and even though Abu Wa'il was older, he would not teach and would not narrate hadith while Zir ibn Hubaysh was in his presence — out of respect for him.

I do believe that maintaining the good manners of how we disagree with each other — how we talk with each other, as individuals, as family, as community members, as a society — is so essential. It's not just words. It is deeper than that. Because as we live, and as tomorrow comes, there will be more disagreement. There will be more opinions. With this revolution of sharing information, and as people become more knowledgeable, the more technology there is, the more abilities you have in your hand, the more arrogant you also can become — proud of your opinions, formulating your own position. Even within the family.

We are living in a time — for the first time in history, in my opinion — where children can know more than their parents. In history, that was usually not the case. Now kids know more than parents in certain areas, and you will be surprised. So with that established, we need to learn from an early age how to respect one another, how to talk to each other, how to disagree with each other.

We also see our society polarizing in a way that is scary. Everybody pulling in one direction. And we see disagreement becoming so harsh, so vicious between people. We need to learn how to talk to each other, how to be respectful of each other. Look at just the internet — how when people disagree, they use the internet as a platform for destroying people's reputations, using very low language, and everybody thinks his opinion is the ultimate truth, as if he is the only one who knows the right thing. Whatever we don't know about, we immediately call it off, cancel it, give it labels, and start attacking it — simply because we don't know anything about it. If you don't know anything about it, be quiet. Don't make a label. Don't make a statement. Don't pass a judgment.

Unfortunately, people have more sense of tolerance towards each other when it comes to fiqh opinions, but they become so aggressive against each other when we disagree over political views, management perspectives, da'wah perspectives, or which organization is better. Things that are not even issues of halal and haram — unfortunately we have become very aggressive against each other, willing to give names and labels, and cancel one another. And what's funny is that people who speak about canceling culture are sometimes the first ones to cancel others.

And this has come into the Muslim community as well. As part of this society, we have to understand a very simple fact: your opinion is not a fact. It is just an opinion. You have to understand that the opinions formulated by one school of thought in fiqh, or one da'wah group, are not al-Islam. They are not equal to the word al-Islam. Al-Islam is much bigger than one madhab, much bigger than one movement, much bigger than one culture.

That's why it is so important to always remember what the Prophet ﷺ said to one of his companions when he appointed him as a leader for an army. What the Prophet ﷺ was telling this leader is: if you are in a fight and the enemy wants to make a deal with you, a treaty — don't give that treaty the stamp of "that's what Allah and His Messenger want" or "that's what Allah and His Messenger approve." Say: "That is what I and my fellow soldiers approve. That is our opinion about this. That is how we think it can be fair." Why? Because if you are wrong, it is your opinion that is wrong. But if you say "that's what the Quran and Islam say," that means al-Islam is wrong, that means Allah is wrong. And the Prophet ﷺ was teaching us, even in a critical moment like war, to make sure we don't put that label — "this is the wahy, this is Islam, this is the Sunnah" — unless you have an explicit, clear evidence or ijma' on this issue.

لا يجوز أن يقول لما أداه إليه اجتهاده ولم يظفر فيه بنص: إِنَّ اللَّهَ حَرَّمَ هَذَا، أَوْ أَوْجَبَ هَذَا، أَوْ حَكَمَ بِهَذَا

(Ibn al-Qayyim — a Mufti cannot say "Allah forbade such a thing," "Allah obligated such a thing," or "Allah's ruling is this and this" — unless there is a clear evidence from the Quran and Sunnah, not merely one's own ijtihad and opinion.)

That is why Imam Malik, rahimahullah, when Al-Mansur told him, "Let us force people to follow Al-Muwatta," he said, "No. Don't force people to follow Al-Muwatta. There are so many books and so many other opinions. Let it be. The Sahaba had different opinions, and it was better for us to have these different opinions." He said, "Don't force people to follow my book. The Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had different opinions, and I don't see them gathering upon one single opinion."

3. Build Alliances

Just as the Sahaba did not gather on one opinion, I think for a better tomorrow we need to learn how to build alliances — within the Muslim community, with our Muslim organizations, our Muslim brothers and sisters, and also with the bigger circle — society at large. You cannot survive in society by yourself. You need friends. You need other people to be with you.

We have seen, for example, in the issue of Palestine, young men and women in universities all over this country who have stood up and demonstrated a level of courage that sometimes surprises you. I cannot get out of my head that video of the soldier who lit himself up — even though I believe it is haram Islamically to kill yourself — but that required an enormous level of courage. He stood on his feet until the last moment, did not scream, because he believed in that cause. In Columbia University, in top universities in the country, students in their last semester were expelled, and they were willing to take that hit because they believed in their cause. Those people were not Muslims. Those people were not part of our community.

Our community needs friends. Needs people who believe in causes as well. We have a just cause — universal causes — and that requires us to think: How can I build that kind of partnership? How can we work together? Build this alliance, this understanding? And there is a lot to be said about this, because this area has to have a lot of guidelines. Hopefully one day I will give a special talk about how we can build an alliance that maintains our principles, but at the same time invites people to work with us on our causes.

The Prophet ﷺ said about Hilf al-Fudul — the treaty that was made in Mecca before Islam, where they agreed to always give victory and to help the poor and the weak so they would not be abused — he said: "If I was invited to this treaty, I would be part of it. If it were to happen today, I would be part of it." The treaty that the Prophet ﷺ made with the Jewish tribes of Medina established that they would protect one another, fight together against whoever attacked them, give sincere advice to one another, and help one another in what is good and not in what is evil.

I want to say that this alliance must be based on knowledge, not on emotions, and based on principles, not on party affiliations — not just defaulting to blue or red or whatever color you pick. We should also be very careful in how we label people, how we generalize. It is so dangerous, because that would destroy many of the alliances we are trying to build.

And I will say it loud and clear: these are issues of ijtihad and opinions. Not every Muslim who votes for one candidate hates immigrants or hates Islam, and not every Muslim who votes for another candidate doesn't care about Palestine. That is not correct. That is your political view and stance. But you cannot attack your Muslim brother just because they have a different position. Not every Republican is a racist. Not every Democratic Party member is necessarily pro-homosexuality. It is much bigger than that. Simplifying and dumbing these issues down to that level has a very negative impact on our tomorrow, on our community.

4. Lead, Be Led, or Get Out of the Way

If we're looking for a better tomorrow, we need to learn how to lead, or to be led, or to get out of the way. Either be ready to lead, or ready to be led, or get out of the way — but not to refuse to lead, refuse to be led, and simply stand in the way criticizing and making comments, paralyzing the community from going forward. That is not going to give us a better tomorrow.

5. Invest in Friendships Before You Need Them

If you want a better tomorrow, invest in making your friends today before you need them.

6. Have Clarity in Your Goals

If you want a better tomorrow, you have to have clarity in your goals and be motivated by those goals. Have clarity in what you want to establish and what you want to accomplish. We should be led by our goals, not by our problems.

7. Face Today with Confidence and Optimism

If we want a better tomorrow, we need to deal with today and the troubles of today with confidence, with optimism, with a smile. Sadness —

وَمَن جَآءَ بِٱلسَّيِّئَةِ فَكُبَّتْ وُجُوهُهُمْ فِى ٱلنَّارِ هَلْ تُجْزَوْنَ إِلَّا مَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ
(Quran 27:90)

Sadness was never praised in the Quran. Never. Sadness is only criticized in the Quran. Being sad and depressed, crying and being consumed by sadness — that is not going to move us to a better tomorrow. Even in the most painful of times, you put a smile on your face. What can be harder than losing a loved one — your brother, your father, your mother? In Islam, in the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ, the period of mourning is not allowed to exceed three days for most losses. Maximum you have three days. Then after that you have to move on. The world cannot stop. You are in pain, but you are confident you will feel better tomorrow.

8. Come Closer to Allah

If we want a better tomorrow, we need to come closer to Allah. We need to be with Allah. We need to not be against Allah, and to be seeking the blessings of Allah. And Allah will not bless an ummah, an individual, a family, a community — a person who has turned his back to Allah, a person for whom Allah is the least of his priorities, a person who jumps from his bed for worldly matters — who cares more about catching the second half of a football match than his salah. Allah will not be with people for whom Allah is the least of their priorities and His laws and commands are the least thing they honor and respect.

May Allah benefit us by what we have heard. I seek Allah's forgiveness for myself and for you all.

Second Part of the Khutbah

All praise is due to Allah alone, and may peace and blessings be upon the last of the Prophets.

9. Think Big — Invest in the Youth

My brothers and sisters, if we're looking for a better tomorrow, we need to learn how to have big goals and big ideas — to think big, to think bigger than ourselves. If we need a better tomorrow, we need to invest in the youth. If our youth — all they care about, all their education, comes from Netflix and movies and they never read a book, if our youth don't know how to read the Quran, don't understand their deen, don't understand principle, don't have big goals, don't feel that there is a bigger world than their own desires — we need that to change if we're looking for a better tomorrow.

10. Change Your Attitude Towards Life

A better tomorrow means changing your attitude towards life:

When you change your attitude from being a person who thinks very low of himself, to someone who believes he can make a difference — somebody of value — that will come when you have something valuable to live for and to aim for. Through your business, through your daily activity, everybody in his and her field. The future starts today, not tomorrow.

Du'a

May Allah grant us success. May Allah make our tomorrow better than our today. May Allah accept from us all our good deeds. May Allah give us the courage, the patience, and the sabr to make positive change in our lives and the lives of those around us. May Allah forgive our sins and the sins of our loved ones. May Allah make it easy for our brothers and sisters in Gaza and around the world.