Nobody owes me anything – Mahmood Habib Masjid and Islamic Centre

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In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.
And peace and blessings be upon the honour of the Prophet and the Messengers.
Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and upon his family and his family.
Peace and blessings be upon him, and upon his family and his family.
My dear brothers and sisters,
I want to share with you three of my most critical and most important life lessons.
Three lessons.
First lesson is, which I learned and I have practiced all my life.
First lesson is, nobody owes me anything.
I am not entitled to anything from anybody.
Not from my parents, not from my wife,
not from my friends,
not from my brothers and sisters,
not even from Allah.
I am not entitled to anything from anyone.
Nobody owes me anything, including Allah.
Allah does not owe me anything.
First, very important.
If you get this right, then automatically two other things come up.
The first thing that comes up is,
therefore,
anything I want to have, I need to work for.
Anything I need to have, I want to have, I need to work for it.
I am not entitled to it.
I can’t just get it by wanting it.
I can’t get it because of who I am.
So if I want it, I have to work for it.
Whatever it is.
I want Jannah, I have to work for it.
I want forgiveness of Allah, I have to work for it.
I want money, I have to work for it.
I want a happy marriage, I have to work for it.
Whatever it is, I have to work for it.
And a corollary to that is,
that I can have anything I want, as long as I work for it.
Nothing stops me.
It’s just a question of price tag.
Right?
To give you a materialistic example,
I have a small house.
I have a small house.
I have a small house.
I have a small house.
I have a small house.
I have a small house.
If you say I want to buy a Bentley…
I’ll give you a materialistic example.
If you say I want to buy a Bentley…
If you say I want to buy a Bentley…
Can you buy a Bentley?
Yes.
Who can buy a Bentley?
Anybody.
Anybody.
The only requirement is,
you have to have the money to pay for it.
That’s all.
They won’t say no, no, no.
You are a Muslim, I will not sell it to you.
No, they don’t care. You can be a Muslim, Christian, whoever.
You can be a one-legged man with one eye. They don’t care.
As long as you have the money to pay for it, you can buy it.
Even if you cannot drive it, you can be blind.
You have no driver’s license.
Can you still buy a Bentley?
Yes or no? Of course.
Can I buy a plane if I want to buy a plane?
Yeah, I can’t fly a plane because I don’t have a license to buy a plane.
I can buy it.
That’s life.
As long as you can pay for it, you can have it.
You want great health?
You can have it.
You got to pay for it.
What’s the payment for great health?
Eat what you should eat.
And exercise.
That’s the payment.
It’s not in money.
It’s an effort.
Can you become the president of Harvard?
Yes.
There’s no no.
Anything you want, absolutely anything you want, you can have as long as you pay for it.
So the first, where does it start?
I’m not entitled to anything.
Nobody owes me anything.
Not my father, not my mother.
As I said, not even Allah.
Allah doesn’t owe it to me.
If I want from Allah, I’ve got to beg for it.
I’ve got to go pray here.
Put my head on the floor.
Even though Allah created me, he doesn’t owe it to me.
And when I understand that, then the other two things.
If I want something, I have to work for it.
And as long as I work,
I can have whatever I want, whatever I need on the face of the earth.
Final point.
I then become grateful for what I get.
Gratitude.
Shukur.
I’m not entitled to a smile from you.
So when you smile at me, Alhamdulillah, my brother smiled.
I’m not entitled that you should treat me with respect.
But when you treat me with respect, I am thankful.
SubhanAllah.
Alhamdulillah.
Allah put love for me, respect for me in the heart of my brother.
He treats me with respect.
I’m not entitled to that.
You do that.
I’m grateful to you.
Alhamdulillah.
JazakAllah khairah.
A sense of gratitude.
And Allah said about himself.
Lain shakartum la’zidannab.
If you are grateful, I will increase the bounty.
And that applies also in this life.
If you are grateful to people, people are nicer to you.
You express gratitude, people are nicer to you.
So I wanted to share this thought with you.
Three things that have helped me enormously in my life.
Which is this?
Don’t take anything for granted.
You want something?
Go work for it.
Buy it at the price.
What do I need to do?
And then, be grateful.
Thank Allah.
Thank the people.
Don’t take people for granted.
Don’t try to use people.
Don’t try to deceive people.
You are smart.
The other guy is at least equally smart.
Most of the time, he is smarter than you are.
I don’t think you can fool them.
No, no.
You can’t fool them.
They know exactly what’s happening.
Be square, be straight, be talk, say that directly.
You make a mistake, say I’m sorry.
Khalas.
What’s the big deal?
You are making mistakes.
Say, I’m sorry.
I apologize.
Sorry.
What can I do to make it up for you?
Alhamdulillah.
Khalas.
But if you don’t do that, and you keep on going around and around,
no, no, this happened, that happened.
You don’t know.
You don’t know.
It only makes the matter worse.
It doesn’t improve it.
So I ask Allah to help us to be authentic, to be truthful,
to have patience and perseverance so that we succeed.
Wa sallallahu ala nabiyyil kareem wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajmain
bi rahmatika ya Allah.

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