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In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful. All praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. And peace and blessings be upon the honorable prophets and messengers, Muhammad and the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him and upon his family and upon all his followers. And brothers and sisters, life is a transaction. Right? We talk about winners and losers in life and this and that. So who’s a winner, who’s a loser? It’s a transaction. In business, who’s a winner? The one who makes more profit. Who’s a loser? One who does not make profit, makes loss. So if you say the winner, does he never have a loss? No. But over a period of time, more number of wins, more number of transactions where he makes profit. Does he sometimes make a mistake? Does he sometimes lose some money? Of course. It’s like cricket. Every cricketer will get out. At some point in time, he’ll get bowled out. So in cricket, we have a term called batting average. So the best cricketer is not somebody who never gets out because everybody gets out. The best cricketer is the one with the best batting average. So per match, how many runs did he make? Same thing in life. Now, so let’s look at our own life and say, what are we paying to get what? Life is a transaction. You’re paying something to get something. For example, you are sitting here in this five, ten minutes. You’re spending ten minutes of your life. So after you get up from here, I want you to evaluate and say, I spent ten years of my life. Did I get something worth ten minutes? If you got something worth ten minutes, then these ten minutes is not wasted. If you got something which was worth more than ten minutes, hamdillah, you made a profit. But if you got something which was not even worth ten minutes, then you wasted your time. So also social media, we are spending how much time? God knows. There we don’t spend ten minutes. We spend hours. You count the hours. There are apps. The app will tell you how many hours a day you spend on the phone. The app will tell you. It counts. So you say, today I spent two hours and that’s a very low number. The average they give for America is six hours a day. Six hours is a full working day. And a working day, you work five days a week. On the social media, you are seven days a week. So for it’s one work, every year is one lifespan year on social media. So you ask yourself, what did I get from spending one lifespan year on social media? If you had spent four lifespan years in studying, you would have got a PhD. How many lifespan years have gone on social media? What did you get? So life is a transaction. This is the reality. You like it, you don’t like it. This is the reality. So to get something, you must give something. So we need to ask ourselves. They say there are no free lunches, right? Every time you’re doing something, you’re getting something. So let’s ask ourselves this question. What am I giving up to get what? And then ask, is it worth it? Is it worth it? If it is worth it, keep doing it. But if it’s not worth it, get out. Just get up and walk away. Returns on investment, the way we calculate ROI in business, they are assessed in terms of the amount, the quantum, and the duration. So for example, if I sell my house and I use the money to go on a world cruise in a luxury cruise liner, is that a good deal or a bad deal? Very bad deal, right? Very bad deal, right? I said, no, no, no, no, no, I enjoyed myself. See the photographs. I’ve got this beautiful album, fantastic photograph. And now you’re homeless. That’s nice. Right? Take a photo of that also. So if you would have, if you do that, what kind of investment is that? On the other hand, if I sell my house, I buy two shops, I rent them out, I move into an apartment on rent, and the income of those shops, I’m living off of that investment, that’s a return on investment. I’ve got two shops, that’s the real estate value, plus I’ve got an ongoing return, rental value. I have a house, I’m living in a rented apartment. So what? Now that is smart thinking, right? Now do anything, do any kind of permutations and combinations of this, sell the house, buy gold, stocks, so on, so on. Any of that, vis-a-vis, going on a cruise, you would say, which is the better investment? So now think about this and say, let’s see how this works with Allah. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala used this word. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala called it a business. Allah said, Allah said, oh you believe, shall I guide you to a tijara, to a business, to a buying and selling transaction process that will save you from a painful punishment? What is the result of that investment? Allah said, Allah said, whoever brings a good deed, which is any form of obedience to Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala, will have ten times that, ten times likewise. And whoever brings an evil deed, Allah will only give him equal to that, and they will not be wronged. Now what is the one word for obedience to Allah? Islam. And what is the guarantee that whatever it is that I will, that I am doing, is obedience to Allah and will earn His pleasure? That one word is called a sunnah. The guarantee that my action is acceptable to Allah is if the action is according to the sunnah. If it’s not according to the sunnah, we don’t know. Maybe it is right, maybe it is wrong. But if it is on the sunnah, you’re sure. So look at the examples Allah gave. In Surat Al-Baqarah Allah said, Allah said the example of those who spend their wealth in the path of Allah is like the likeness, like the example of a grain of corn. If it is sown, it grows seven years, and each year has a hundred grains. Allah gives manifold increase to whom He pleases. And Allah is all-sufficient for His creatures and needs. He knows what they need and He is the All-Knower. Now Allah does not count and give. Allah is saying, He counted, this example is for us to understand. But Allah says, Allah will give manifold, He will increase it as He wishes. Final point on the business of ROI, return on investment. Value of the return is based on its quantum and who is guaranteeing it. That’s why the US Treasury bonds, US $10,000 in Treasury bonds, they attract a lot of investment because even though the return, interest rate on that is only 3%, that’s because the people consider the US government to be a solid guarantor of investment. They cannot sing because the government is a guarantor. Now my question is, ask yourself this question, then what about Allah? Because Allah SWT’s return is not 3%, Allah is saying 700 times, not percent, 700 times. 10 times is minimum which is 1000%, 700 times. And then Allah said, and beyond that Allah will increase as He wishes. Now this is really where the Rabbah meets the road as far as our Ima and Yakhin and everything is concerned. You wake up and smell the coffee. I ask myself and ask you to ask yourself, how much do I really believe Allah? It’s as simple as that. Do you really believe this? Allah is saying I will give 1 is to 10, I will give 100. Do you truly believe this? I’m not saying ahduraman as Muslims of course we believe the Quran. No, no, no. As a statement Allah is saying I will give this. Do you really believe that? Because if I really believe it then the answer is in our own lives and our decisions and our actions. If I believe that one day I will meet Allah and I really believe that Allah will deliver on His guarantee, then this must reflect in my investment with Allah. Does it reflect? That is accounting, not faith. It’s reality, not belief. Ask anyone who is working in the Middle East why they send home, why they send money home to India or Pakistan or wherever they come. They live in a small apartment in Saudi Arabia or Kuwait or wherever and back home in their village they will build a big house. And that too when the reality is that in that small flat when they are working in Saudi Arabia or wherever, they will spend 30 to 40 years literally because that’s amount of service, right? So he goes there at the age of say 20, he works for 30 years. He is now 50, he works for 40 years, he is 60, right? Then they get some extension and so on, so on. And then they retire and come home, back home to Pakistan, back home to India or wherever and the age of 65 or 70, how many years will they live there? Yet he does it because he considers that India or Pakistan to be his real home. 70 years he lived in that house, that house is not there. He will die in 20 years, that house is there. Think about that, 70 years he lived in this place, that is not his home. He is going to go die there in 20 years, that is his home. Oh, that’s the birthplace. Birthplace, so what? But he is spending everything there, right? So which is home? The point is I am making is think about his akhirah, is it permanent, right? But do we really think it is permanent? Where is the family? That is the point. No, apart from family, don’t take it literally. I am saying here, the person is staying in this world, how long? And then in the akhirah, how long? So where is the investment? That is the point. Seriously, let us think about this and say that if I really believe that, and we believe in Allah, inshallah, it is not as if we have no faith, we have faith and we are trying to, but ask yourself this question and say if I look at my life, what is my life showing? Does it show that I believe that this world is my final destination or do I believe that the hereafter is my final destination? Because if I am not sending, investing in the hereafter, what will I find there? Oh, okay, yes. Right? What will I find there? Because unless I invest there, there is a true story. Al-Walid bin Abdul Malik, who was the khalifa after? Umar bin Abdul Aziz, Rahmatullah Ali. He came for Umrah and after he finished Umrah, he asked the people, is there anybody from the Tabi in here, in Mecca? They said yes. So they took him to one person who was a Tabi. And Al-Walid said, I have one question. My question is, why am I afraid of dying? He said, I am terrified of dying. I don’t want to die. Why? And the person of the Tabi, the Buzruk, he told him, it is because your palaces are here. Your wealth is here. When you die in your akhbar, when you die in the akhirah, you have got nothing. You have not sent anything there. That’s why you are afraid to go there. But if you are to invest there, if you are to send there, I built my palace there. I want to go there. This is a story about the Banu Maya khalifa. So the question I ask myself and you is, this applies to everybody. It’s not only for the kings. This applies to all of us. Where is my investment? Where should it be? Nobody says don’t live. And I am not saying go become homeless. No. Live well. No problem. But at some point in time we have to say, what am I building over there? He asked Kalasubhananthara to help us to focus our attention on investing in the place where we will be for a very, very, very long time, which is the akhirah, which is the kharwar. And to enable us to invest there so that that stay will be, inshallah, very beautiful and comfortable in the care of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. Wasallallahu ala nabiyyil kareem wa ala ahrihi wa sahbihi ajma’i mirraha sikaa’
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