Do Not Wish to be in Somebody Else's Shoes - Mufti Menk
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00:00We need to also consider others.
00:07Every one of us, without exception.
00:10There is someone, somewhere, if not one, more people,
00:14or if not more people, then at least one,
00:16who looks at us and thinks,
00:18I want to have this man's life.
00:20And they don't know what we are going through.
00:23And we look at someone else sometimes,
00:26and we think, hey, I wish I could be like this.
00:28And we don't know what they are going through.
00:30And this is why one of the scholars,
00:32he was explaining one day in the masjid,
00:34that you know, the difficulties that people go through,
00:36Allah tailor makes them for you.
00:38When you are going through a problem, Allah knows,
00:40He made it for you, it's your test.
00:42So, the people were questioning him.
00:44He said, okay, I want every one of you to write
00:46ten of your biggest problems,
00:48and put them here in this hat.
00:50So, in the whole masjid,
00:52how many people were listening to him,
00:54they wrote it all down, and they put it in the hat.
00:56Then he said, I want you guys to come back,
00:58and pick out from this,
01:00one piece of paper,
01:02until you are happy that now you need these,
01:04as your own problems.
01:06What that means is,
01:08you have to have these problems in life,
01:10you have to have tests.
01:12We've written down everybody's problems.
01:14They are all on a piece of paper.
01:16Each one has written a little piece, it's all in a hat.
01:18So, when they came forward once again,
01:20picked up the paper,
01:22hey, these are massive problems, put it back.
01:24Pick up the next one,
01:26ah, these are even bigger than those, put it back.
01:28Where's my paper, let me look for it again.
01:30Do you get the point?
01:32So, this is the gift of Allah.
01:34The gift of Allah is, your ten problems
01:36are tailor made for you. Allah knows you'll go through.
01:38If you knew the problem of the man
01:40sitting next to you now,
01:42you would not want those problems.
01:44Hey, leave this, this one here is not for me,
01:46I can't manage it. Maybe one or two things you are going through,
01:48he's not going through. So, it seems like he's leading the life.
01:50But you don't realize, it's not that.
01:52There are other things which you don't even know,
01:54you don't have the problem about.
01:56And they are going through the stress of the age.
01:58May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us ease.
02:00You can see this is a relevant topic.
02:02It is something we desperately need.
02:04I end off with two more things.
02:06Brothers and sisters, if you have financial problems,
02:08any form of difficulties,
02:10there is one important way of helping yourself,
02:12by helping others.
02:14Amazing.
02:16The hadith says,
02:18Allah will continue helping you
02:20for as long as you are busy
02:22helping someone else.
02:24How many of us, we have our problems,
02:26it's all about me, me, me and I.
02:28Even if you don't have, what's stopping you
02:30from smiling at someone?
02:32That smile might make them feel like
02:34their problem and burden is less.
02:36You greet someone, salamu alaikum, how are you my brother?
02:38Give them the importance because
02:40they are important in the eyes of Allah.
02:42They are important. You greet someone,
02:44look at them in the eye, greet them.
02:46They should feel in the heart that this is
02:48a very beautiful Islamic greeting.
02:50That is an ibadah.
02:52So no one can say, I am too poor to reach out.
02:54We are not talking of financial reaching all the time.
02:56What is more important than
02:58giving people financially,
03:00is to show them the best character and conduct.
03:02To be genuine towards them.
03:04So inshallah, that is one issue
03:06that we definitely need to improve on.
03:08We need to become more
03:10kind to one another.
03:18Al Fatiha.