Bismillah. Alhumdulillah. Wa Salat Al al-Salam wa rasulullah. I start in the name of Allah. Seeking his assistance and blessings.
This is your breakthrough coach, Zubair Ashraf.
You can access the video series here.
Have you heard about the saying;
“It is not about what you know, but who you know”?
Now imagine your biggest and toughest goal. Imagine the pain of the past. Imagine the most things that you have and you want them to be protected. DO you not wish at times someone can just help you take care of all these things. Give you the right ideas. Show you the right path. Make the right connections for you. IF you look at successful people, you would see the importance of them being at the right place at the right time with the right people.
Who makes that happen?
Likewise, you would notice similar patterns behind those who have come out of really terrible and painful situations. As much as we would like to acknowledge all the pieces that lead to the success. It is very important to not neglect the main cause that set everything in place.
We are talking about the one who is the arranger of all affairs. The one who brings about all the causes.
This is where we have an opportunity to demonstrate and grow our trust in the lord of the heavens and the earth.
From the favours of Allah is how he arranges our affairs and provides us with amazing opportunities. You are listening to this podcast, you are able to do so. Having access to the internet. Having the time and choice to listen to this podcast. And so on and so forth. Who gave you all of these basic elements to be able to do what you are doing at the moment?
SO would you like us to tell you the simplest action that you can take that will give you the biggest boost?
It is the act of asking Allah.
Which is known as a dua. Calling out to Allah. Asking Allah.
So how does this work?
We are not denying the importance of actions and all these things will come in the upcoming episodes as well. The point is, that when you make dua, as a result of that dua, you get an acceleration, you get the right motivation, you get ideas. You get the energy, you get the hope and you become fearless. Because you have trust in Allah. You know that if I will put in my effort, Allah will facilitate me to achieve the results that I want. And if I don’t get the results that I want, by the knowledge of Allah, what you will do is you will take the lessons and move on and you will know that something better and bigger is to come your way.
Ibn al Qayyim explains the way that dua works in his book The Disease and The Cure.
وله مع البلاء ثلاث مقامات
أحدها : أن يكون أقوى من البلاء فيدفعه
الثاني : أن يكون أضعف من البلاء فيقوى عليه البلاء ، فيصاب به العبد ، ولكن قد يخففه ، وإن كان ضعيفا
One of the examples that is quoted there is that when it comes to the trials and the tests in difficult situations, here is an example of how dua interacts with it. One thing could be that your dua you’re asking of Allah is so powerful that it repels the test, it repels the hardship. It repels the trial.
Another scenario could be that your dua you’re asking of Allah is weak or weaker than the trial or the intensity of the trial. The decree of Allah to have you tested in that situation and that situation it comes to you. But it can also happen that the intensity or the difficulty of the trial is reduced because of this coming of your dua that comes against the trial.
So the point being that dua is an action that is definitely beneficial to you. It will either push away the obstacles completely or weaken the obstacle.
Before we go continue, let me ask you something. What do you think of someone who goes into the gym and really works out, works out really hard and then comes out and eats fried chicken, pasta, fries, coke and cheesecake?
What do you think about that person? What did he just do? Did he completely nullify the effects of his workout? If he did not do that then definitely he reduced the effects of his workout. Moreover, with this type of diet it will reduce, or it will affect his energy levels and he may not be able to workout. Or he may not be able to sustain the habit of working out.
Why am I mentioning this?
There are certain things that makes your dua weak. And it is important that, as you put in the effort to make dua to ask Allah for assistance, to ask Allah for facilitation, it is important that we try to avoid all these factors or all these actions that weaken our dua.
The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, “Allah the Almighty is Good and accepts only that which is good. And verily Allah has commanded the believers to do that which He has commanded the Messengers. So the Almighty has said: “O (you) Messengers! Eat of the tayyibat [all kinds of halal (legal) foods], and perform righteous deeds.” [23:51] and the Almighty has said: “O you who believe! Eat of the lawful things that We have provided you.” [2:172]” Then he (ﷺ) mentioned [the case] of a man who, having journeyed far, is disheveled and dusty, and who spreads out his hands to the sky saying “O Lord! O Lord!,” while his food is haram (unlawful), his drink is haram, his clothing is haram, and he has been nourished with haram, so how can [his supplication] be answered? [Muslim]
and allah the almighty has said “eat from lawful things that we have provided you.
and he saws mentioned the case of the man who has journeyed far. He is in the the state of being a traveler. He’s dusty and he spreads out his hands to the sky and he says “oh lord, oh lord” while his food is haram. His drink is haram. His clothing is haram. And he has been nourished by haram. So how can his supplication be answered?
This is an example of someone who is in such a state of weakness and submission and need. But the way that he was nourished himself is all based on things that Allah has prohibited.
This is showing us how all these actions of disobedience are weakening the dua. In another narration, Allah’s messenger tells us about something else. That the supplication of the servant is granted as long as he’s not supplicating for a sin or for cutting the ties of relationship, the ties of kinship or he does not become impatient.
It was asked “Oh, Allah’s messenger, what does ‘if he does not become impatient’ mean?
He said that he should say like this “I supplicated. I supplicated but I did not find it being responded. And then he becomes frustrated and abandons supplication.
This is amazing isn’t it?
Somebody may be making dua
‘Oh Allah, make this happen. Find me a way. Solve this problem for me. Guide me what steps I should take. What should I do about this situation?’
Really, really saying all the right things. But, gives up. he’s like, ‘why is this not happening…’.
This is something that will prevent the dua from being accepted because he or she will then stop making dua. This is something very common and it causes a lot of distress
Think about a couple of things here;
- What is inside? What is truly inside a person who is not making dua.
- a) he doesn’t know why Allah is or he’s shy to make dua in which case he does not know who Allah is.
or
- b) he thinks that what he wants to achieve or what he wants to repel can be done without the help of Allah he does not really and truly feel in need of Allah.
Think about this.
If you truly know that, regardless of the effort I make, Allah does not want this thing to happen for me, it will not happen. If Allah wants to prevent me from something, I will be prevented.
In that case, a true, smart person, he would not only make the right efforts, but he would ask Allah to facilitate things for him. And at the same time, he would understand that if something did not happen or if something did not happen today or tomorrow, Allah has a greater wisdom. Allah has much more knowledge than what he or she has.
Let’s say you are asking for something. You want a job. Or you want to get married. Or you want your marriage to improve. You want your relationship to improve. You made dua, you make efforts, it did not happen today. And the day ended
What just happened?
Allah chose something to not happen for you today. If It was in your hands, you would probably make it happen, but it’s not. You did your best. Allah did not choose it to happen.
Imagine this:
Allah knows more than you.
He made that choice for it not to happen today. If you really and truly trust in Allah, you know it didn’t happen today, maybe it will happen tomorrow. So, you continue that tomorrow. And so on and so forth.
Unless it’s a scenario that its some sort of a business or something that you realized ‘You know what, I’ve learned my lessons, based on because it did not work out, I need to pivot I need to change my strategy I need to do something else.’ That’s a different scenario.
In that case, you would continue making dua. You’ll continue getting the blessings and benefit from the right ideas.
What have we got, so far, in this series?
We talked about identity.
We talked about mindset.
We talked about believing that things can change for the better.
We talked about that you have the ability to take actions. You have the ability to work hard.
We talked about the amazing things that you have done as a child.
We talked about the importance of having clear goals and reading them and clarifying them and making sure they are in front of you.
We talked about having a plan of action.
And we talked about measuring or doing your audit and holding yourself accountable on how you are using your time and your energy.
From a spiritual angle,
we have talked about accelerating your achievements and using Quran and using dua.
We believe that if you start applying these things in a structured way, you will see amazing results in your life.
You have to be consistent. You have to be vigilant. You have to be very aware of what is happening.
We have gotten some amazing feedback and we are thankful for everybody who reached out to us. At the same time, as you apply these things in your life and you have your own insights, we would love to hear about them. If you have any questions about something not working for you or if you’re not sure about how to apply things in your specific situation, we would be happy to receive your email and your feedback and we will respond to it to the best of our abilities. So with this, until next time…
Subhaanaka Allaahumma wa bihamdika, ‘ash-hadu ‘an laa ‘ilaaha ‘illaa ‘Anta, ‘astaghfiruka wa ‘atoobu ‘ilayka
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To check out previous episodes visit Breakthrough Podcast
Got questions or comments? Send us an email at breakthroughs at muslimmastery.com
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