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Alhamdulillah, Rabbil-‘Alameen, wa salatu wa salamu ala al-sharafi al-anbiya wa al-mursaleen. Muhammadur Rasoolullah ﷺ wa sallam, taslima al-taslima al-taslima. I’m doing this reminder, Khatira, at 30,000 feet, flying in an Ethiopian Airways 777, one of my favorite planes, and below me is this absolute carpet of clouds. We are heading towards the southern hemisphere, towards Johannesburg in South Africa, and this is kind of rainy season here.
Leaving Addis Ababa, the temperature was around, I think, about 10 or 11 degrees Celsius. Johannesburg, by the time we land, will be probably about 2 or 3, so it’s fairly cold. Of course, nothing to compare with the colds in Massachusetts. It doesn’t get that cold here, obviously, but still, cold is cold.
I remind myself, when you, one of the best places and ways to think about and to reflect on and learn from lessons for the Akhira is when you are flying, because on the one hand, you have… what is immediate with you, which is a nice plane, a nice seat, a nice food. Ethiopian Airlines has an excellent food, and the best thing about Ethiopia is the people. This is my first time in Ethiopia, and my whole flight in the airports, on the plane, interact with everyone from porters to, you know, the staff in the lounges in the airport, the immigration people, security people. I’ve truly never come across people who are more, seem to be more happy. Genuine, warm smiles on the face of everyone. People are extremely hospitable. Very, very nice. And despite the fact that this is one of the poorest countries in the world. So it’s not a question of, you know, rich and poor. It’s a question of the heart and how big the heart is.
And so that’s why I was thinking to myself, Ethiopia is a country which is, from the Islamic perspective, this is the country of the first hijrah, Habasha, where Rasulullah sent the first delegation. They left Makkah to save themselves. The logic was that if anything happens, if there’s a calamity and if the Muslims in Makkah get wiped out, then it’s important to have at least one group of Muslims alive somewhere else. So that’s… So I’m going to still go forward. I never came to that, of course. Allah ﷻ protection has always been there and will always be there. But therefore, if you are living in a hostile place, leaving that place to go somewhere else with the intention of establishing a safe haven is very much from the Sunnah.
So this is where they came to. They came to Al-Habasha, which is Abyssinia, Ethiopia. This whole place. So one can imagine how many… These were wonderful people, very good people. The two major religions here, one is Eastern Orthodox Christianity and the other one is Islam of course. Roughly, informally, roughly, the population is around 50-50, or rather, about 40-60 percent. So you see a lot of Muslims, and you see a lot of Christians. The interesting thing about the Eastern Orthodox is that they pray… Their prayer looks very much like ours. They do ruku and sujood.
And so therefore, you’re surrounded by your own things for your own comfort and so on. But the two things which are primary in our minds… One is… In some ways, the precariousness of where we are. We are in an environment which Allah ﷻ, thanks to His Qudrat, that planes were invented and therefore human beings are flying, even though they were not created to fly. And the second thing is that very soon, this flight will land. And this experience will be over.
And we will be back on Earth, in some other airport, in this case, Johannesburg. So this is a very good reminder for us, as far as life is concerned, to say that no matter where we are, how we are, how comfortable we are, and vice versa, how uncomfortable we might be… It happens in travel. It happens in travel all the time. No matter how luxurious your travel might be, there are still things which are not in our control. For example, flight delays. Even if you are flying first class, flight delay is a flight delay. So things like that. So whether it’s good, bad, or ugly, it will end. And what remains is what is, you know, what you take away from the experience. And then you are in the real environment. Which is, when you come out of the airport, then you are in the place that you landed in, with all the responsibilities and so on, which might go with that. So also in life, I mean, think about our lives. We came into this world for a limited period of time. And we will remain here for a limited period of time. And then we return to Allah ﷻ. Okay.
And therefore, to live this life with that awareness constantly, that I will return to Allah, and therefore I need to be obedient, therefore I need to be in a situation where Allah ﷻ is going to be pleased with me when I meet Him, this is extremely important. This is absolutely critically important. And I At least for me, this is extremely important. For me, travel reminds me of that. For example, if you see, you know, when you pack for your travel, you are packing with the perspective of where you are going. So you might be leaving from a country where it’s hot, where you’re wearing clothes which are thin, which are airy, but you’re going to land in a place which is cold, which will be cold. And therefore, you will pack warm clothes. Even though you’re not wearing any clothes. If you look at your suitcase and say, why you are in Hyderabad where the temperature is in the 30s, why are you packing hot jacket? Why are you packing a sweater? Because where I’m going, the temperature will be 3, not 30.
So this reminds us, this is what life is. Second thing is that you might obviously own a lot more than what’s in a suitcase, but out of what you own, you pick and choose that which is going to be useful to you in the other place. So the focus always is on the other place, the place I’m going to. And the place I’m going to, I’m so certain that I am going there. I will go there. There is no doubt about that. So all my planning and everything else is with that in mind. I’m going to that place, and therefore, I must have what works there, what is useful there, what is beneficial there. That is the overall focus of this. So inshaAllah, if we live our lives like that, with a focus on the Akhirah, it’s as simple as that. So what do I do? I pack for the Akhirah. I take what I need for the Akhirah. I’m constantly in my mind, the thing is that I’m on a journey, I’m going to the Akhirah, and that is where I’m headed.
So when we think like that and we focus on that, then inshaAllah, we find that we have our bearings correctly. Instead of that, if you get lost in this dunya, if you get lost in what’s happening here in this world and what’s not happening here in this world, then we are in trouble, because It would be just like on a travel. If you are not thinking of your destination, then you will not be prepared for that. You will not have the things you need for it, you know, you will not have the documentation, for example, that you might need for it, none of that, and then you find yourself in trouble when you get there. So I remind myself and you too, keep this in mind, inshaAllah. After I land tomorrow in Inshallah. From South Africa, I hope to say make some reminders with some very beautiful scenery and stuff. So That this is possible and you will all enjoy it, inshaAllah. A question for all of you dhuas, lots of work to do there, two seminars that I’m giving, where I’m the keynote, and then of course some other work and so on. So inshaAllah. I look forward to meeting some of you there in South Africa.
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