Sura Kahf v. 7-8

In continuation of our khutba’s on Sura Kahf (Chapter of the Cave), we come to Allah’s words:

Verily! We have made that which is on earth as an adoration for it, in order that We may test them (mankind) as to which of them are best in deeds

And Verily! We shall make all that is on it (the earth) a bare dry soil

If we go back to the first six verses, we find these two verses as a continuation and a break from the theme. It is a continuation in the theme in that it lays out why the disbelievers will not believe in the message of Islam, still trying to console the Prophet and letting him know not to grieve. But it is also a break from the other verses in that a new theme is introduced here. Not new to the Qur’an, but new to this Sura.

In fact, Allah mentions many times that he as made the things on this earth, including our families, an adoration. Later on in this sura, Allah will remind us again that:

Almaalu wal banuuna zeenatul hayatud dunya
The wealth and children are an adoration of this world

So we must always keep in mind the fact that the things we have in this world are flighty, they are here today, gone tomorrow; we have nothing one day, have a lot tomorrow, and next week we might be back to nothing; and so we should think of it as such;

This does not mean that we should not have or enjoy things in this life; as a matter of fact, whatever we are given is a blessing from Allah, and part of appreciating the blessing is that we accept it and use it, but not in extravagance, and not to show off, but rather to appreciate.

But Allah reminds us here that is in only an adoration of the earth because like any other adoration, in time it fades; for example, make up that women put on is to adorn themselves; they take what might be plain, and put beauty to it; or men might do the same with cologne or clothes; but at the end of the day, the makeup and the clothes come off; the cologne wears out, and one is left with the original; you don’t get too attached to it, because you know it will fade;

So similarly, when you are trying to look at a human being, you must look past the glamour and glitter to their true essence or you will miss what (s)he is about; in the same way, we must look past the adornments of this world, cause they will eventually fade; leaving nothing except for what we earn in deeds; and that is what Allah says in that it is a test to see which of us in best in deeds;

The good and the bad, the beauty and the ugly, everything in life is a test and some have more tests than others; some have harder tests than others; and the nature of the test is to show the winners from the losers; here Allah uses the words “ahsan” perfection, and one of the roots of this word is beauty, because perfection only comes through beauty; beauty not defined by us, but by Allah;

Allah is beautiful and loves beauty

And so you do things we goodness and beauty and the become perfect acts accepted by Allah; and this can lead us into an entire discussion about the nature of beauty and what is accepted by Allah. Suffice it to say here that the acts we do must be done with the proper intention of pleasing Allah and done to the best of our ability. When we begin to do these two things, then even everyday mundane acts become acts of beauty accepted by Allah;
And Allah says in the second verse, #8, that he will make everything on earth bare dry soil; going back to my initial point that when the adornment comes off, all is that is left on earth is its true nature, bare dry soil.

And this realization comes about on death, when you are put in the soil and that is all that is around you, but also on the Day of Judgment when all of us, the entire humankind, will be on a plain waiting judgment.

Breaking Free: Financial Success

Talk given at Dawah Conference in Santa Clara, CA on 8/18/2007

Before we speak about success, it is important to speak about financial freedom; and there is no way to be financially free without getting out of debt;

Debt is not forbidden in Islam, and as we know the Prophet died owing money to a Jewish man in Medina; but it should be something used in necessity, and not as a line of credit; but it is also important to note that in today’s world, debt is haram because of the riba attached to it;

Most likely form of debt people find themselves in is credit card debt; what if I told you that there was an investment that guaranteed 15% return, 19%, 24%? How many would jump on it? If you pay off your credit card debt, that is exactly what you are doing!!!

5 Steps:

1) Start the process of getting out of debt by asking Allah for help and a sincere intention of getting out of riba

Allahumma inna a’oodho bika minal ‘ajzi wal kasl; wa a’oodho bika minal hammi wal hazan; wa a’oodho bika jubni wal bukhul, wa a’oodho bika minal galabid daini was qahrir rijaal

2) borrow from family members to pay it off
3) get another credit card with a 0% offer, and if, not, then one with lower rate
a) pay off within the time allotted, sometimes 12 mos and throw away credit card
and don’t use it
b) if you make sacrifices, you will be able to do it; “temporarily in repair to serve
you better:
4) negotiate with credit card company; they might cancel interest and even reduce principal that needs to be paid back
5) since you set out on this path with good intention, do not lose; “laa taqanatu mirrahmatillah”

Once clean of debt, then can begin on the path for success; and keep in mind that you don’t have to start off with a lot of money; as long as you start and are consistent, you will end there, insha Allah; and the way to do this is to be smart about it by using tax advantaged vehicles (accounts), whether they are Individual Retirement Accounts, Education Savings Accounts, etc. but whatever you use, remember to keep them halal because there is no point in have success, if you don’t earn it in a halal way;

Tax advantaged usually means investments in stock market and scholars have issued guidelines for what is halal and haram; it has to do with not making investments in companies whose primary business is against God’s laws and also staying away from those companies that finance there operations with riba; so you can use these guidelines to purchase your own stocks, or with small amounts of money, invest in a mutual funds

So once we as individuals begin to accumulate wealth, then our institutions can become independent and successful; but this doesn’t happened automatically; organizations have to put the infrastructure in place to do this; and slowly this is happening across the US where Muslim organizations, with vision from their leaders, are laying the foundations for this;

Now there are many components to a successful organization: programs, employees, volunteers, and I will only speak about one of these components, the financial one within, 4 steps:

1) Start early, but it is never too late; set aside even a small amount but start something; as organization gets bigger, it will be much more difficult to do something because of budgetary constraints; also when an organization starts, most are with 1 person in charge, or few that are close friends; easier to it then when organization is large

2) have realistic expectations: the money that you put away will never pay for entire budget, at least you don’t want it too cause it will mean that organization is not growing; what it can do, is to help with budgetary constraints, starting new projects, or doing things that no one wants to pay for

3) as organization begins to mature and funds begin to grow, then begin to publicize fund for donations
a) let people know about it in fundraising dinners
b) meet donors privately and talk about estate planning issues
c) donor education through seminars and special events

4) if you do the above, then the organization can eventually become an institution with a dedicated staff and volunteers to do this and raise more money
large US institutions do not accept cash in this department; only bequeaths and
willed assets;
money comes in slower, but larger amounts

finally, I wanted to address some common objections that I hear:

1) Board in organization says that money raised is a trust and can’t afford to lose it in investment or market fluctuation
Answer: leaving it in the bank will lose money because of inflation; let other masajid borrow it to pay you back when you need it; or look for now available halal vehicles to secure your money

2) The money should be absolutely pure and have not haram
Answer: stock market investments have been approved by scholars from all over the world and the guidelines are very similar; even leaving money in bank is not completely pure: bank uses money to lend with riba, even if they don’t pay you

3) Organization is too small, struggling, and has not assets:
Answer: start off small, even with $100 if you have to, but start; and sometimes you have assets that you don’t think are assets, like the land underneath the building