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This is Leo, my brother’s cat. He’s a Russian blue and not the friendliest of cats but he seems to like me. For reasons unknown. What I want to say here today is the importance of differentiating between needs and wants. And this is something that starts very early in life, in the way we raise children, the difference between needs and wants. So anytime the child says, mommy, daddy, I really, really, really need this. Very common in American families, really, really, really need it. Three times really, really, really need it. Is to help them differentiate between is it something you really need or is it a want, a desire. Nothing wrong with wants except that if you do not differentiate between needs and wants, you end up with increasing your cost of living. And by cost of living, I don’t just mean the amount in terms of dollars or cents or rupees or whatever. I mean the price you pay for that life quality. So if I need an iPhone 16, then I’m adding that into my cost of living. Because when you’re saying need or want, it relates to happiness. What is it that makes you happy? So the more the need you have to make you happy, two things happen. One is your chances of being unhappy go up because what makes you happy is more and more and more. And if I can’t get that, then I’m going to be unhappy. So my chances of being happy go down and my chances of being unhappy go up. The second issue of the difference between needs and wants is of course the actual dollar value. What does it cost? And once again, the more the needs, the more it’s going to cost. I therefore want us to, I remind myself on you, let us recalibrate our lives and say what is it that I truly need? Now a need, a good way of understanding that is to use the Islamic and Arabic and Urdu concept of zarura. What is zarura? What is something a zarura or zaruri is something that is essential for survival. Where if you don’t have that, then it is dangerous to life. It is going to cause dharar, which is ham. So dharuri is something which prevents harm. So what is dharuri in terms of food? Say for example, what is dharuri? Dharuri is the hadith of the Rasul of Allah, he said eat enough to keep your back straight. And if you must eat more, then eat up to one-third of the capacity of your belly. One-third food, one-third water, one-third empty air. And he said the hadith doesn’t begin there, the hadith begins with, he said the worst utensil, the worst vessel to fill is the belly. So it begins with that. And then he says well eat only enough, a few morsels, a few morsels, not handfuls, morsels, to keep the back straight. So we can do our work, we can worship Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala, we can go about our daily business and keep it free from and never fill the whole belly. Now if you look at this, the whole issue of saying I want a triple chocolate sundae, is it a need or a want? To say I want, I need this, I need that kind of food, I need Hyderabadi biryani, right? I need Bihari kaab, I need this and that, all our desires, they are desires. Now remember I’m not saying that it is haram to have a desire, no, if you want to eat a particular kind of food, haram to ila. But don’t say it is a need. It’s not about semantics, it’s about the psychological effect of calling something a need. If you call the thing a need, then it becomes a need. It generates unhappiness because as I told you, a need is something which if you don’t have, it causes you harm. I need to breathe properly, if I don’t have that air I will die. I need a certain amount of food, if I don’t have even that amount of food, which is frankly being one meal in 24 hours, is a need. So one meal in 24 hours if I don’t have, then I’m likely to you know have low sugar and I’m likely to experience the harmful effects of that. So that’s a need. But anything more than that is a want. It’s a desire. Again, it’s not haram, but if I convert it into a need, then it has the potential to create unhappiness. So always watch for that. What do I convert into my need? Go further and see, take a take a make a list of all the things that we have in our lives. And ask yourself, is this a need or is this a want? Ideally, reduce the number of wants. I’m not saying necessarily that if you have something give it away or sell it or something, no, if you do that, that’s good for you. But even if you don’t do that, it’s okay. But take it out of that list of wants, list of needs. It’s not a need. It’s a want. Transportation is a need. A particular brand of car is a want. Food is a need. Particular kinds of food so many times a day are all wants. They are not needs. Shelter, a house is a need. But necessarily to own the house, even at the cost of the anger of Allah by taking an interest based loan, this is a want. It’s not a need. And in this case, it is also a haram want. So think about that. What are needs and what are wants? And separate the two and begin that as far as children are concerned, begin that right in the nursery, right in the beginning from where they start and say, differentiate between needs and wants. The happiest people in the world are the people with the least wants. They may have those things, then what happens is if you get those wants without wanting them, then it generates shukr with Allah SWT. It generates gratitude, gratitude of gratitude. Alhamdulillah, this is not a need, but Allah has given it to me as a gift. I don’t need to drive this kind of car. Alhamdulillah, Allah gave it to me. I don’t need this. I don’t need that. I don’t need this food. I don’t need this shelter. I don’t need these clothes. I don’t need these gadgets. But Alhamdulillah, Allah SWT gave it to me and therefore I am very grateful to Allah SWT. If you don’t do that, if you convert those wants into needs and you say, I need iPhone 16. So when you have the iPhone 16, it has only satisfied a need, therefore there’s no gratitude. Yeah, I need it. I got it. I need it. I can breathe. I need water. I have water. There’s no gratitude. So first of all, it was never a need in the first place. It was a want and Allah SWT gave it to you. So recognize it as a want, as something that you need to be grateful to Allah SWT for and as something you can do without. So tomorrow if I don’t have it, no problem. Alhamdulillah, it was never a need in the first place. The loss does not create sadness. It does not create disappointment. It does not create any problems. I don’t even see it as a loss. Yeah, I had it. Alhamdulillah, I enjoyed it. But I don’t have it. Alhamdulillah, I did not need it in the first place. So I remind myself to do a very important thing in life, differentiate between wants and needs. Final point, Salah, is it a want or a need? Worship of Allah, is it a want or a need? Learning about Islam, learning my Aqeedah, what exactly do I believe, is it a want or a need? Jannah, is it a want or a need? To have a peaceful sleep in the cover and be free from the adab of the cover, from the punishment of the grave, is it a want or a need? Think about that. And spend time and focus and energy on those things because those are true needs. They are not wants. Those are true needs. Those are dharuri. Hidayah, fil hayati dunya, wama kufira ba’da’l mout. To have guidance in the life of this world and to get the forgiveness of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala after we die, throughout our lives and then we die and after we die. These are needs. These are desperate needs. These are things which we simply cannot do without. Alhamdulillah, Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala gave us guidance. We are either born Muslim or we came to Islam. But to stay there, the steadfastness, hidinah sirat al mustaqeem. We ask Allah to grant us guidance towards the straight path, towards the path of righteousness, to the path of steadfastness. So ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala to help us to differentiate between needs and wants and to focus on those needs, real needs. And to be grateful to Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala for giving us those needs and all the wants which Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala gave us as a gift. Alhamdulillah. But that’s not something we are going to focus on. That’s not something we are going to run behind. That is not something that we are going to allow to come in the way of appreciating and thanking Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. And if you don’t have any of those wants, you say, Alhamdulillah. I don’t have that thing which I wanted because first of all it was not a need. And therefore if I didn’t have it, I’m not going to be questioned by Allah about it. Alhamdulillah. We ask Allah to keep us always, always, always among the shakirin, among those who are grateful because they are the people who will be called and asked to enter Jannah. We ask Allah to be among them inshaAllah. Always be grateful to Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. No matter what. And always look at people who are blessed. There’s no shortage of that in the world. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala to help us to do that. Vaisalallahu anna vil kareem, vaila ali vaisa vil main brahmati karmul vahe.
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