How to be a better Muslim

How to be a better Muslim by DR.BILAL PHILPS

Simple definition of a better Muslim:

In brief we can say that, Muslim is the one who has committed himself openly to submit himself to Allah .It is the commitment. A good Muslim will then be the one who fulfill that commitment and act upon statement that he or she make in concerning themselves in the relationship to Allah .And as such, an adept Muslim will safeguard him /her and try to see how he/she may improve their practice of Islam. So becoming an adept Muslim fundamentally involves improvement on the basic practices of Islam that is required from us.

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Explanation for the word “improvement” used:

Why I said that it is the improvement? It is because without the basic practices, if we are not following the basic practices, then it is questionable if whether we are Muslims. Hence, one cannot be better Muslim without fulfilling what is required from us. We have foundation, the pillars of Islam, which we are expected to practice to our best to our ability.

Ways to improve ourselves:

However being human beings, we cannot fulfill all the practice at the best forms at all the time

We are prone to error, turning whatever practices of that we require to fulfill in the rituals, forgetting the real meanings behind rituals and just to be on the outer action. It is very easy to take place. We may not do so intentionally; such as Allah has not cursed us because of it.

However we have to stock ourselves and required to look back into practices time to time and make sure they are in accordance to the will of Allah. And we have to take stock, just to maintain our basic practices properly. Further to improve ourselves, it is also required to look what we are doing not only make sure that it is accordance to what Allah want from us but we are in the process of growth ,revolution, development and not just haying on by  fingernails. I mean a basic Muslim is just haying on his finger nail, the one who is a better Muslim who pull himself up, try to improve himself to develop and to success the goal that behind the principles of Islam. The higher spiritual morals and the goals, which are ordained for us, by Allah.

And the way which we improve, take stock and improve, is vague because I cannot say that if you can do this, you can be a better Muslim. But, if you do these things, you may be a better Muslim in this aspect. Islam has various aspects which cover whole scope of our life. So the improvement of that taking stocks all the various aspects of the life and tries to improve in different areas. Understand what is Sunnah and what is Bid’ath. It is important from ideological or interactive point of view and to know what is that Allah required from us.

But there are certain aspects that go to do voluntary act which make difference between a practicing Muslim and the back end Muslim.

Allah’s description on the better Muslims:

And this is contain the idea in a statement told by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) quoted by Abu Hurairah . Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)   said that said “I have declared war against whoever acts regarding hostility towards a friend of mine”. Friend is interpreted is the one who has faith. In our previous lectures, it was explained that it is the one who is close to Allah. The one whom Allah considered to be friend of his and Allah is a friend of that individual. That is someone who submits himself/herself to Allah and they will fall automatically in the category of friend of Allah .That is the hadith qudsi, which Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) narrating directly from Allah.

Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: “Allah Most High says, ‘He who is hostile to a friend (Wali) of Mine I declare war against. My slave approaches Me with nothing more beloved to Me than what I have made obligatory for him, and My slave keeps drawing nearer to Me with voluntary works until I love him. And when I love him, I am his hearing with which he hears, his sight with which he sees, his hand with which he seizes, and his foot with which he walks. If he asks Me, I will surely give to him, and if he seeks refuge in Me, I will surely protect him.’” [Sahih Bukhari].

Lessons from the first hadith:

This hadith that is important for us, those who seek to be a better Muslim. It is important for us to understand.

One, Allah said that he will declare a war to a person who tries to harm to the one who submit himself / her to Allah .That is committing himself/herself to serve Allah to the best of their ability that Allah will protect them. Such a person will find enemies and that is why Allah made that statement. When a person choses the path of Allah, it means all the Satanic forces will be gathered against this person. The Satanic forces will appear in the form of human being maybe even from people from their own family, their own children, parents. They will strive to turn the person back. But whenever such people gather, infidelity to the one who seek to submit to Allah, Allah said that he has declared a war against them. The one which Allah declared war against cannot succeed; Allah will defeat them. No matter what we (the one who submit to Allah face with, we will be successful. The reason is that Allah has committed and promised to defeat our enemies. Of course, maybe that will be something that we cannot grasp in this life but success will be ultimately ours in the next life. It may be in this life if Allah wills. Allah give destiny to those who chose his path, he will defeat the enemy in his/her lifetime. It is in the will of Allah to give the person the ultimate success.

So we need to have confidence, that when we choose to submit ourselves to Allah, that Allah will defend us. Allah will oppose to those who strive to harm us and ultimately we will succeed. This confidence and trust that we need to have on Allah .And, it is also needed for us to be a better person. The reason is that we better Muslims make some sacrifices, we are doing extra and more than just the back end. Since, we are doing extra; they are people who do not want us to do extra. Hence, we will find difficulty and the only way to overcome the difficulty is that we trust within our self that Allah is within our hands. So we need have that trust in Allah and that certainty for us to grow, become better Muslims.

Importance of the compulsory duties of Islam:

A lot of us say that of the things that we can do to come closer to him. Those are which most beloved to him, are the compulsory/obligatory duties. This is where we start, we start to try to fix, improve ours elf. We should start from the obligatory duties and we cannot start from the voluntary act. The reason is that the obligatory duties are the foundation if we that are not tight, then whatever else we are doing are the waste of time. Because, Allah will first, foremost ask us about our obligatory duties.

If you find people those who chose deviant path under the title they choose, in whatever they do, they will neglect his foundation and they will bring series of voluntary acts that you can do. That will be many, many things which will make you busy. But that will bring you further from Allah than closer to him. You cannot put voluntary act before an obligatory act.

Example: This why when time of prayer come, we have to do compulsory prayers than the sunnah prayers.  Sunnah is voluntary, it is additional. The compulsory takes precedence over the voluntary. If you have not made Haj before, your mother or father died and their intend is to make Haj, but they didn’t. Islam allows you make Haj for them but not before you make Haj for yourself. That is you have to give precedence over something that is additional. The reason is that you making Haj for your parents are not compulsory. If you didn’t, Allah will reward them in many ways. If they have serious intend to make Haj, Allah will reward them. So you are not allowed to that to them until you have done that is compulsory for yourself. So when we start to look at ours elf, to improve our self, we have to start with that is obligatory on ours elf. Because, it is that what is most beloved to Allah.

Steps to get the love from Allah :

When we say we are striving to be a better Muslim, what we are saying that we are striving to become more beloved to Allah .And, that Allah will love us more. The basis of the love is the obedience to what is Allah commanded as Allah said when we talked about Sunnah , Bida’ath

قُلْ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللَّهَ فَاتَّبِعُونِي يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللَّهُ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ  وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ  

رَحِيمٌ

Verses (3:31)

Say, [O Muhammad], "If you should love Allah, and then follow me, [so] Allah will love you and forgive you your sins. And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful."

Allah said to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) to be said to the believers if you love Allah, you want to get closer to Allah, then follow me the Prophet (peace be upon him) and Allah will love you. We have to love Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) to obtain the love of Allah. And Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said the compulsory duties are the first that we are supposed to do. So Allah confirmed here for us. This is where we have to start from; we have to start with compulsory duties. After we have done with compulsory duties that is regular, 5 times daily prayers on time, tahajjud before sun rise in the masjid ,making prayers on time and not wasting the time till the end of day ,making 5 prayers, praying the 2 or 3 prayers together. This is not taking care of our compulsory duties. This is neglecting it, being negligent and it is not accepted to Allah. The Praying Solah means, praying on time. The Praying Fajr means, praying when Fajr comes in. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said Fajr is the most difficult on the hypocrite. If we find, we can hardly find time to pray Fajr, then it is the sign that we are boarding into hypocrisy.

Importance on the voluntary acts of Islam :

So after we find ours elf completing the compulsory duties, then we go to the voluntary acts. The more we do voluntary acts, we come closer to Allah and Allah will love us. If we do additional voluntary act and all the various acts of Islam are connected are voluntary acts that are connected to them. So we try to do as much we can, the more we do, the more we earn the love of Allah.  When this becomes a part of our life, our way meaning that whenever we have the opportunity to do additional act of worship and we do them.

Explanation for the Second Hadith :

Then Allah says “He loves such a person”. When he loves the person, he becomes the hearing of the person, the sight of the person, his hand which he seizes, and his foot which he walks. It is not meaning that Allah will become that particular individual. This is mistake in understanding. There are some people who possess this mistake of the hadith of Allah which is quoted by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Allah does not become that individual but he becomes the hearing of the person hears. In the hadith, it does not say that he will become ear but he will become his hearing. That is what individual hears is what Allah wants him/her to hear. He will avoid useless talk if he is in gathering and people are talking trash and nonsense, he will leave or will try to make the conversion to something that is positive, if he think he is capable of doing it if not he/she will get up and go. They do not remain sitting there, hearing what Allah do not want them to hear. The talking will be displeasing to Allah .So the person will have Allah‘s hearing by either changing the conversation or leaving that area.

Similarly, beside that the individual see which Allah want us to see. The individual avoid looking at the things which are displeasing to Allah whether it is form of magazine, videos, sight (go to places, or whatever countries). The person will take him to be in the situation that will displease Allah. If he likes to swim he knows that there will be beach wears, and people will be half-naked, so he will not say that he will not see and serve Allah but instead he will not go there. So a better person will live a life in such way that he only of what Allah want him to see. Of course, as human beings, there will be something’s which will pass us that Allah does not want us to see. However, the point is that you do not dwell upon it, you look elsewhere. You change the circumstances and find other options so you try your best and most of things, you will see that is pleasing to Allah.

Regarding seizes of hand which is described before (in hadith), the food and daily needs which you do to in your hands and what you earn is halal. What you take is halal and that is what Allah wants from you. This is how you operate in your life. You do not touch what is haram, whether secretively in case of income, or being literally, in the case of shaking the hands of woman. This is something which is prohibited in Islam. Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) said “it would be better an iron strike be driven in your head than touching the hand of woman whom is not permissible for him. “This is something Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) imposed. When a person has come close to Allah through these vital acts, they build on the basis of compulsory acts and Allah loves that individual. Such an individual will avoid contact physical or metaphorical something which is prohibited and that is deceiving to Allah. We have to judge ourselves.  If we take away the regular voluntary deeds, we are getting closer to Allah, but in fact if we look our situation we find that receiving deceit things that are haram. We are looking things that are haram and not looking out of things that are halal. It means for sure we are not most beloved to Allah and we are not getting close to Allah, we are going further away from Allah.  It is either you are going close to Allah or going away from Allah. So we have to take stock ourselves and try to improve our practices.

Allah describe that he will become the one we are going to , it means where we are going to and it means that we are going to places that are pleasing to Allah .Such a person, Allah says “if he asks of me, I will answer.” To such kind of person, Allah will answer his prayers. “And if seeks my protections, I will protect him”. That is the confirmation of the very first statement. That whoever becomes the enemy to a friend of Allah , one who is close to Allah , who is love by Allah ,  such an individual (enemy) has put himself in state of war against Allah. Allah will protect that person.  Allah will answer his prayers.

Lessons to be learnt from both the hadith:

So this hadith of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) has given us, heart of the message, the foundational message to become a better Muslim.

One, we have to have confidence in Allah. That Allah will support us if we choose to serve him, submit to his will, to take stop to whatever difficulty we may face. Allah will help us, protect us. That confidence we have to have. Otherwise, we will not able to take the task, it will be too difficult for us if we don’t have the confidence. When we face the difficulties, we find too much that saying “I am not quick”,” I do not want to have problems in my life”. Such a person will not improve and not become a better person. Firstly, he must have confidence in Allah’s help.

Second, we must stock of the basic pillars of Islam and to be sure that we are doing according to what Allah want us to do. Otherwise, we cannot go. This is the basic and what is most pleasing to Allah .We have to be aware of that and correct ourselves.

Then we try to utilize our time to do voluntary acts of worship, fasting on Monday and Thursday, and 3 days of the middle month, 13th, 14th & 15th, 6 days after Ramadan. These all are recommended times of fasting. We can make it in our regular part of our life by fasting in every Monday and Thursday. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said on Monday and Thursdays is when the deeds are taken up to Allah. This is taken and transcribed into the book in heaven. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) says, he (peace be upon him) likes that when his deeds are lifted up when he is in the state of fasting. It is recommended for us to fast on every Monday and Thursdays and we should make part of our regular life. Any acts we do, we try to make it up our regular life pattern. Additional acts, voluntary prayers such as tahajjud , Umrah whenever we can , haj if it is possible. We try to improve on our basic acts by doing voluntary acts and we are also improving the quality of compulsory acts. The more we do the voluntary acts, the easier the compulsory acts will become to us. The more we are able to realize of what Allah want from us in them.

Allah has promised in the hadith, “The one who embark in his path, such a person will then become a true friend of Allah “. One will see what Allah want us  to see, hear what Allah want us to hear , do what Allah wants ,  will go where Allah want them to go. In that way, Insha’Allah we can be a better Muslims by applying the principle of what Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said.

Hadith relating to a better Muslim:

Relating to this hadith, narrated by Ibn Abbas “There are two things of what most people are deceived, there are health and spare time”. It is also reported in Abu Bukhari . It is something by which we could improve the quality of our life. However, Satan has tricked us and we are not able to benefit from them. So we have been deceived and tricked. The reason is that people can do so much of voluntary acts but they don’t it. People say when I get old that is when I become a pious person. It happens though when people get feeble, old, they will lose their health and become sick. Even to them, the compulsory act becomes a great strain. So all your plan about doing the voluntary acts at the old age, will have nothing else do, in a sense that you will find in a situation that where you can do even compulsive. So you are being deceived, fooled.  The time in which you should be doing maximum of voluntary acts, are when you are still relatively young. This is when we have to do the maximum.

Similarly, when we have the spare time, we try to utilize that time to the maximum. Because, we have no guarantee, we will have the spare time in future. Often times, we may have something good in our mind to do, but then we find sometime excuse to take it off, it can be reading Quran or doing extra prayers or exercise or whatever. We will find excuses and we can all argue that till next week or whatever. And, this is how Satan fraud us. It is important that the time we have, we will make the maximum of it. This is how our approach should be.

Whatever spare time we have, we should try to use it to serving to Allah, in doing thing which are pleasing to Allah.

It does not mean that to do that one become like a monk, a person who does not have any kind of life beyond Masjid and home. He goes to Masjid and goes to home, and from home to Masjid. No, this is not the way of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) does not only live in Masjid, lives a complete life. However, whatever time he (peace be upon him) had, he utilizes it spending on what is pleasing to Allah .It is because within those things, there are those things that are pleasing to us also. It does not mean that whatever pleasing to Allah is displeasing to us. No, many of the things, which Allah prescribe to us and are pleasing to him, there are also which is pleasing to us also. We have to find those things. We have to utilize our time, to those things. Whatever time we live, it will be benefit to us on the Day of Judgment.

A warning given by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) :

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said in a hadith quoted by Abu Hurrairah and collated in Bukhari and Muslim.” The hell fire is veiled by desires and paradise by delight and calamity.” We improve ourselves; we become better Muslims by utilizing our health to do as many voluntary acts we can. By utilizing time and doing things which are pleasing to Allah. This is the way of improving the quality of our life. Improving our service to Allah and becoming a better Muslims.

At the same time, we have to be aware that the veil of hell fire is our desires. Meaning if we follow our desires, we will go to hell. If we do whatever we feel like doing and whatever is pleasing to us, we will end in hell fire. Because our desires, if we do keep them within our bound that is Islam has said they will become destructive to us, family, community and society. This is what meant by veil of hell is desires, to be in a veil, submission to desires.

Similarly, the veil of paradise, are things are not necessary to be pleasant to us. Many of the things which are not pleasant to us make up the veil on paradise. Meaning that, we have to deal with many things that are unpleasant to us if we have to earn paradise for ourselves.  We have to be clear of that. Giving Zakat is not pleasant. Nobody likes to give off their money, money that they will work hard for. Nobody likes to do it and it is not pleasant. It is something that we struggle within ourselves about, and we have to do this to grow, become closer to Allah and fulfill his duties.

Similarly Haj is not a picnic; people are going Haj thinking that it is a picnic once they forget in the crowd and pressure and turn into something else. To perform Haj, in the way of Prophet Mohamed (peace be upon him) prescribes us to perform the Haj, it is not pleasant. It means suffering, people stepping into our feet, elbowing us, knocking us down and we are not reacting. It has become pleasurable to react.

Islamic view on anger management and our desires:

According to Western psychology, if you become mad about something, you should get it off the chest and let it out. And, this is not the Islamic way. You will feel a lot better after you screamed at somebody or whatever. But the correct way, it is to control you. Prophet Mohamed (peace be upon him

) said “those are angry, don’t get angry.” You have to control your anger. Control the anger and bear the suffering of what people put you through. This is not pleasant thing to do but it is the way to paradise. For us to become better Muslims, to become the Muslims who earn paradise, we have to deal with this reality. We have to have Sabr. To further empathizes that Prophet Mohamed (peace be upon him) said reported by Maimoonah, “This world is a prison for a believer and paradise for disbeliever”. This is the full concept. It is prison for believer because he or she cannot let their desires to go wild and to do whatever they feel like doing. They have to control their desires. It is prison which they set for themselves. Whereas the disbeliever, doing anything they feel like doing .That is paradise. Allah describes paradise for us saying “Enter paradise wherever you wish”. You can do whatever you wish.

For believers, that will be in next life but not in this life. If we are having whatever we wish, Prophet Mohamed (peace be upon him) is telling us “If we are having whatever we wish then we are in the paradise of the disbeliever.” Which is the ultimately the hell, it will leads to hell and that is where disbeliever ends up. So it means if we feel like we are doing whatever we feel like doing now, we are headed to hell. For us to realize, to grow and be a better Muslim, we have to come to this reality. That we are not free to do everything we feel like doing. The reason is that we seek paradise. We trade the freedom to do whatever we wish in this life for that complete freedom in next life. In this life, even if you try to do everything you wish for, you can’t.  The disbelievers who have money and everything, they still can’t do whatever they want to do. There are always things that they can’t to do. This is where they end in corruption and they are destroying their whole life etc. Because, there is no way and you can’t do all.

However, it is possible to do whatever you want to do in next life.  Everything is not possible in this world and we trade it for next life. We have to trade this to become better Muslims. If we don’t trade, we cannot become better Muslims. We may not do just the basic, but if we are giving away to our desires, even our basic will be destroyed. We will be only going through ritual. Our basic will be ritualistic basic. We pray 5 times but we will be blowing anything that praying is supposed to get. We fast and we will be the worst of people, most on time. The pillars of Islam will become blind rituals. The reason is that we are no traded the freedom to do whatever we wish in this life, for the next life.

The way which Muslims should treat the dunya:

In another occasion, Ibn Omar reported that Prophet Mohamed (peace be upon him) that on the authority of Abdullah ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) took me by the shoulder and said, “Be in this world as though you were a stranger or a wayfarer.”

And Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) used to say, “In the evening do not expect [to live until] the morning, and in the morning do not expect [to live until] the evening. Take [advantage of] your health before times of sickness, and [take advantage of] your life before your death.” It was related by al-Bukhari.

Isn’t the life of the strangers? You know when you are the stranger is area; you just don’t feel attached to this area. You are according to the definition here, we are all strangers. We cannot live here and cannot make this as our home. So there will be a lot of issues that you can’t do here but you can back at your home. You buy a lot of stuff that you know that you will leave it here. When you are at home you will buy it and keep it, but here you don’t do this. You will try to live with minimum. You don’t spend much money here because it is not your home.

It is the same way that you should look at your life. This is not our home; our home is the next life. This is one here is the short period we live here and we can’t keep anything with us except our deeds. This is how we should treat our life. You are only a stranger. You only treat what is necessary and that is why you are working here. You need to live, so you only buy what is necessary. Like refrigerator, stool and basic tools. Similarly, in terms of this life, you concentrate on the things that are necessary and that which you would take with you and are useful to you, ultimately; which are the good deeds.

Or like a traveler, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, be “like a traveler”, he is not attached to any event, he has got to do what is enough to do and he keep going.  So he is not tied, he does not feel, attached in a full sense.

Similarly, this is the way we have to look at the life, for us to be a better Muslim.  

Explanation regarding the “shortcuts” to be a better Muslims:

The title of the presentation is how to be a better Muslim and, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) gave us that. Everybody ultimately wants to be a better Muslim in a sense that a better Muslim is person who is guaranteed paradise.

And you will have a lot of people who will come and offer shortcut to be a better Muslim to get to the paradise. However, these shortcuts, whether the special dhikr in the morning and evening which you say or it is something which you will do. “If you do all these, you will guarantee paradise” – This is Satan. Satan is taking you away from the true path and to the path to the devils. It is taking you to hell. This is because the path that guarantees you to paradise is not an easy path. It is a difficult path. It involves true struggle. It is struggle with yourself, family, community, society and you will be in constant state of struggle. And these are principles which Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) outlined for us. If we go back to the Sunnah , what Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) gave us , even the task and worry is there . There is much which I have presented you in series of range of hadith of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).  In the few statements which I gave, there is so much. If we manage to do a quarter of it, Alhamdulillah, for sure we will be better Muslims. For sure we will be on that path

Guidance of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him):

There is much to do, plenty in guidance of what Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) told us.  This why when he (peace be upon him) use to give us on a talk, special opening of speech, it is called Khutbat Ul Hajjah. In the end of it, he (peace be upon him) will say, the most truthful of speech, sayings is the book of Allah. Then the best form of guidance is guidance of Mohamed (peace be upon him). His (peace be upon him) guidance is the best. So if want to be a better Muslims, if want to guarantee us paradise, then we have to go back to his (peace be upon him) guidance and what he (peace be upon him) is provided. This is what he (peace be upon him) talking about for us to improve ourselves.

We have to treat this life like we are strangers, travelers. What we know is necessary, and what will remain with us that will lead us later on. That is the righteous deeds; we had to take greatest effort to do the righteous deeds. And, we will only take from this life, the others things which are absolutely necessary for survival; we try not to accumulate of what we do not need.

Advice from Ibn Omar (may Allah be pleased with him):

Ibn Omar(may Allah be pleased with him) the same person who reported the hadith, he said something concerning with it, it is reported by those who convey the statements of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) from him. He said himself “when you are in the evening; do not wait for the morning.” In the evening, you will find yourself; in the evening to wait don’t wait for next morning. In other words, we are putting off things for tomorrow morning, for you to do. Similarly, when you find yourself in the morning, don’t wait for evening.  Don’t put off till evening.  The good things that come to your mind will be in the morning. This is the way Satan, the devilish forces, cause you to miss the opportunities which Allah given you in your life to serve him and compensate to him by putting off the morning to evening, the evening to next morning.

And take from your good health, when you have good health from the time you get sick, try to do as much as you can when you are healthy. So that when you get sick and are you are unable, you have done. From your life to till your time of death, you try to do as much as you can.  While living for that you have supplement that will benefit you, when you die and you no longer can do.  This was the advice given by Ibn Omer (may Allah be pleased with him).

Final statements from Prophet Mohammed(peace be upon him) :

In the final statement, I will mention two more statement of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). In it, there are lessons for us to improve the quality of our Islam, to become better Muslims.

The one he (peace be upon him) said concerning Dunya, this life, the whole of this life is cursed, except the remembrance of Allah and things which sufficed us to remember Allah, the knowledge of the person , and the one who seeking Knowledge .  

This is it.  He (peace be upon him) telling us this so that we can take note. The remembrance of Allah in this life is critical.  Because, in the remembrance of Allah, that we gain righteousness. This is something which we mention number of times before. This is the essence of righteousness. It comes in the remembrance of Allah. That is why Allah said “Establish Prayer, to remember Allah “. In the Solat , there is Dhikr . When we remember, we submit to him. Submit our will to his will. We obey him . When we forget him then we disobey him .  

So everything in this world are cursed except the remembrance of Allah, things which we do evolves in the remembrance of Allah , things which helped us to remember Allah .

That is why Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said “Choose your companions well.”  You will be raised on the Day of Judgment with your companion, you choose somebody who will remind you Allah.  When you are with the person, you remember Allah .If his talk reminds nonsense, you will also talk nonsense. This is not pleasing to Allah This is the type of people you don’t want to have around you.  

So, everything is perfect, in remembrance of Allah and things in which he help us. People who helped us, prayer which helped us, it is the remembrance of Allah.

A knowledgably person – that is we seek the company of knowledgeable people or we become knowledgeable people or we are in the process.  We are seeking knowledge; we don’t feel we know enough.  “We know all we need to know” – NO! , we need to know more. We need to be the people either in the form of lectures or form of the books. Learning, we should be reading, books of hadith, and the books which are explained to us, how to practice and what is required to practice. The Quran is the most important. We should not be the stoppers of learning.

In the last hadith of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) mention in this regards which I am mentioning to you. This is not the last hadith which Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) mentioned; there are many hadith Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) mentioned.  

A man came and said to him (peace be upon him) “Could you show me, a deed. In which I do it, Allah will love me and it will cause him to love me.  It will also cause people to love me”.

This is something which causes Allah to love us and people to love us. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said to him

“In Dunya, you should read the book of Allah, in this world, Allah will love you Control yourself and don’t be excessive. Give up some of the things, which are halal to you and things which you do not need. Give it up, and Allah will love you. And restrain yourself, concerning the things belonging to people and they will love you.”

That is the craving which people have which you may have the opportunity to take from; which maybe halal to you - Haram is of course go to another form but we are talking about which  halal.  If you restrain yourself, go back, from taking these and people will love you.  

The part of the message of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is for improving our self.

We will become better Muslims when we refrain our self in the various things we do in this life, world. Without making the world as our goal, put out all our efforts in this world as much we can. We take what we need and utilize the rest of the energy, to pleasing Allah.  Allah will love us.

Similarly, when we are dealing with the people, it will also work to make our life further. People, who may not appreciate that we have taken particular process to Allah, we do a lot of voluntary acts,  we try avoid talking nonsense or being in the presence of people who extracting nonsense , or from watching things haram etc.  We remove ourselves from these things. When we do all these things, many people will not like us. We will be look at as the outcast. People no longer want to befriend us because we are no fun to be with.

At the same time, though it may be like, when we deal with people, we will deal with them in refrain manner. We will refrain ourselves from taking of the things which people have. They are halal to us, but we don’t take it and not keep it.  

So in spite of the difficulty of the situation, it could help us by self- refrainment when dealing with the people properties and wealth etc.

Summation to be a better Muslim:

So when summing up, we said that to be a better Muslim, one must first be a good Muslim.  That is to establish the foundation of Islam in our life. That is which is compulsory; we have to deal without any kind of resistance. We have to make full time commitment.  We have to do what Allah commanded us to do.  When we establish that, we can now proceed the path of approaching Allah, coming closer to Allah, to become one among beloved of Allah.

We do that by voluntary act .Do for Allah directly. Giving up certain things which we make take in this life, limiting ourselves which are particularly beneficial to us in next life and taking things in this life which are only , only necessary for our basic survival .

This way we can earn the love of Allah, we can come closer to Allah. We make use of our health, spare time.  We don’t take vacations from Allah. There is no vacation from the remembrance of Allah, from serving Allah .No vacations, no matter what.

For woman after the childbirth, they have forty days of vacation.  This does not mean they have vacation from Allah.  They still have to remember Allah in other things they do, when they wake up in the morning and at night, remembering Allah .By saying Bismillah before doing things.  They still have to remember Allah throughout the day.

So we don’t have spare time to waste, we utilize our spare time to serve Allah voluntarily.

We utilize our health to do as much as voluntary acts we can before you reach the time you can’t do the things which you want to do.  It is either by dying, or becoming too old or weak.

Similarly, you realize that we are not free to do whatever we wish to do in this life. It is because that is the path to the hell. And we know that we can’t do everything we wish in this life. It is only what Allah allows us to do.

However, in the next life, in the paradise, we will be able to. So we trade the right to do in whatever we wish in this life, to do completely in next life. It is according to the will of Allah, We also realize the vast majority of things, we may find difficult.  These are the things which we need to put our utmost effort as these are the things which will carry us to the paradise.

And, in closing, we have to remember whether we consider ourselves to be a stranger in this life or not, we are strangers. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) advised us, to be a stranger. We are a stranger.

The period of our time spent here is short.  When we die, we cannot take the majority of the things which accumulated with us.  We can’t take it. Just as it they give you a notice to leave the country; they are some options you can take with.

Same way when the angel of death, the only thing you can take with you, all you deeds.

So you are the stranger, whether you realize it or not.  It is for you to realize it. If you do, then you can become a better Muslim, who will then beloved to Allah .Insha’Allah, can attain paradise in the next life and we will blessed in whatever we do in this life.

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said the “life of a true believer, the one who is close to Allah, it is very strange and it is a very amazing thing”. It is all good. It is the only case for the true believer. He is patient and Allah rewards him. When good comes to him, he is thankful to Allah and Allah also reward him for that.

Q & A Session:

Question

How to put all these Islamic concepts in our real life to be a better Muslim like in a situation when we are working?

Answered by Dr. Bilal Philips

As I said, Islam covers all aspects of our life. If we are working, they are variety of principles which Allah has provided us through Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) for a work dealing in a way that is pleasing to Allah.

As it comes to work, if we think the work as being separate. We have other part of life we can deal with Allah and Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), but during the work time, we are now became slaves to duniya. This is a mistake in our part. In this period when we are working, this should not be any different from when we are not working. It is all one.  The guidance from Islam, to the time when we are working should be same as the time we are not working.  So the means when you start the job in the morning, wherever you job is, there are thing which Allah require from you. That you try, to remember these things. And try to do your work in accordance to the law of Allah.  By doing that, you are utilizing the time for the pleasure of Allah.

You are dealing with your basic needs because you are in this life, and there are some things you need to provide for you.  But at the same time, you do not make it so important that you forget Allah .You do it according to what Allah wants you to do it. You are honest in your dealings. You have the opportunities to steal things, to trap corners to cheat, to lie. All these different opportunities are there. In a working of hotel, you may deal with the corrupt people; these corrupt people may have something which is very attractive. How to deal? – This is your work. Now you are tested. Will you obey Allah or the corrupt person?  What did you do?  You will advise the person to be good.  If the person despised, then you will avoid them. So in your process of work, you are pleasing Allah.

You are commanding the good and prohibiting the evil. You are avoiding the evil and seeking good. Some of them will be compulsory things and some of them will be voluntary things. Do you understand? You are told to do a particular job, a job that requires you to do a specific thing. However, there are other things which you can do to which you may not get money for, that will cause you to do your job well. You can job that is a bare minimum; nobody can say that you did not your job. But, it is about doing your job well. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said “when you do something, do it well “. Do it as best as you can .So by doing it again, you are pleasing Allah.

Islam is not war, some people look at it as a war. By doing something more, they have no opinion anymore, masjid is not place of peace anymore. If the person tries doing something extra, he says my supervisor is not giving me a better job. This is not from Allah .In most places the person is distorted. It is beneficial to him when he is it a voluntary act, to seek pleasure of Allah, to fulfill what Allah requires from you. It may also earn him extra. If his concern is primary and he is doing it for the pleasure of Allah.

I am talking in general terms, if I know what exactly your job is and you outline what exactly your job is, we could find thousands of different way to seek the pleasure of Allah in your 9 hours of day work, in terms of compulsory act as well as doing the voluntary act.

Question

When we are working in a non-Islamic countries there are some actions that will be displeasing to Allah. Example, when we have to do Jummah prayers, many of our supervisor or higher authority does not allow us to go. Is we are following the commands of our supervisor, we are displeasing Allah and if we follow the commands of Allah, we are displeasing the supervisor. So what are we supposed in this kind of situation?

Answered by Dr. Bilal Philips

There are several things we can do, there are some actions we can do in this life and also can be taken to the other life. In terms of this situation here, we know that the law of the country is to provide the basic needs of the Muslims. So, there are some them of who are aware, of the prohibition of their daily needs because the situation is strange.  So the people should seek that individual who can cause the situation here to change.

Another approach, it is go as a whole of people. Because if one person decides to go for Jummah , he will be fired and this can cause a problem. Maybe the whole of people goes to Jummah, they cannot fire all the staff at one time. The functioning of the place will not take place if everyone walks off.  So it may require group action, which is another approach.

Another approach, it is look at the situation personally as an individual, is your work is absolutely necessary? If you cannot find work at home, there is no work available to you. If you do not work here and send back the money to home, your family will starve, they will move out to the street. If purely and truly, it is a matter of survival. I don’t mean in philosophical sense because some people get up and say that philosophical sense meaning getting nice house with a lot of nice things , like extra car and the other things. I am talking about basic survival now.  If a person is in such situation where basic survival, they have to do this job, then of course, Allah is the most -merciful. The person is only doing for what is necessary. If it is no longer necessary, the person has to quit.

If there are in a situation that this is not necessary, they can find other jobs, it is just the matter of paying. There have certain skills that are marketable. They can get money, without having to compromise the duty to Allah .Then it becomes compulsory to give up their job and find another job where they don’t disobey Allah. Because for sure, to displease Allah, in order to please our family, our friends or whatever. It is a misguidance.  This is what we talk about hell in terms of veil of our desires. This is our desires. The desires to please our family, to live a pleasure of life, to live comfortable pleasure of life, and if we give range to our desires, in the expense to duty to Allah, then we have destroyed our life in the sight of Allah .We try to do what we can as an individual, group, that we look at the purpose of our situation, judge and be sure, certain. The problem is that people don’t do this job.

What am I going to do? Who is there to provide for me and my family? .All these means the person is not taking steps to put the trust in Allah. Not believing that if they make a sacrifice to please Allah, Allah will help them. So there are afraid, there are more afraid of what will happen to them in this dunya then what will happen if they displease Allah .This is a big part of it. People do not have truth in Allah as they should.  Of course, this trust is not obliging trust. Islam does not say that you pass away everything; Allah will take of everything. No, you have to strive. But you need to know when you sacrifice, in turn; Allah will help you. The reason is that Allah burdens us in this life in a way that is too great to handle. For every difficulty, there comes ease- Islam is that. As we believe he is Allah, he is the one who created universe and all the things are happening according to his destiny. If believe that, it will helps.  That means when we sacrifice, and we find difficulty, there will be period of ease will come. In which our life will improve or take a better path, or be bearable.

Question

Muslims in countries like India or Sri Lanka are not able to practice the basic pillars of Islam. So what they can do?

Answered by Dr. Bilal Philips

It means you are saying that Islam is not suitable for every place. That is the obvious meaning. This is the other side of what you are saying. Even if you didn’t say in your word, this is what you are implying.  In fact we know, Islam is suitable for anywhere.  Obligatory prayers are obligatory in their times as long as you are conscious. There is no excuse unless you lose your consciousness. Or you are traveler; you have a lot to stop and going.

And, even in your circumstances, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) did joined prayers of Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib and Isha in Medina not travelling, not being sick and not being in any special condition. He (peace be upon him) said that he (peace be upon him) did this to remove from us any difficulty.

So if you cannot, or in circumstance of to pray on times, they you are allowed to pray Dhur along with Asr. Or if you are have difficulty praying Maghrib , there is times where you are allowed to pray Maghrib along with Isha. This is something you know ahead time and you have intention for.  This should not become your daily pattern. This shouldn’t be your life of just praying 3 times a day. This is something else. We are talking about circumstances which will arise time to time. And in those circumstances you are allowed to do it, this is in Sahih Muslim, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) did this.

The prayer itself can be done standing or even sitting. It can be finished in few minutes. And, no matter what situation you find, you will have the opportunity to make the prayer, if you want to make it. Sometime people do not pray because they do not want non-Muslim to see them pray .So they do not want to pray. People may do this. There are varieties of reasons of why people do not want to pray. But if the person wants to pray, they will fear Allah and there will be a way, for sure.  Going to the masjid is preferable, but it is not compulsory.