DESCRIPTION:
Life is complicated enough as it is. Today’s emphasis on finding the “real You” just makes things even more stressful. Alhamdulillah as Muslims, we have a Prophetic legacy to rely on that gives us direction and helps us find meaning in even life’s most mundane tasks. By finding purpose beyond ourselves, we find relief and fulfillment, even when times look tough.
TEXT IN FOCUS:
عن كعب بن عُجرَةَ رضي الله عنه قال: قال رسول الله ﷺ :يَا كَعْبُ بن عُجرَةَ إِنَّهُ لَا يَدْخُلُ الْجَنَّةَ لَحْمٌ وَلَا دَمٌ نَبَتَا على سُحْتٍ، النَّارُ أَوْلَى بِهِ، يَا كَعْبُ بن عُجرَةَ، النَّاسُ غَادِيَانِ، غَادٍ فِى فَكاكِ نَفسِهِ فَمُعْتِقُهَا، وَغَادٍ فَمُوبقُهَا، يَا كَعْبُ بن عُجرَةَ، الصَّلَاةُ قُربانٌ، وَالصَّوْمُ جُنَّةٌ، وَالصَّدَقَةُ تُطفِئُ الْخَطِيئَةَ كَمَا يَذْهَبُ الْجَليدُ عَلَى الصَّفَا
أخرجه ابن حبان في صحيحه
On the authority of Ka`b ibn `Ujra, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “O Ka`b ibn `Ujra: Flesh or blood that has grown on ill-gotten gain shall not enter the Garden. The Fire is more worthy of it. O Ka`b ibn `Ujra: All people set forth anew in the morn as either one of two types. One, in search of ransoming his self, sets it free [from the Fire], while the other destroys it. O Ka`b ibn `Ujra: Prayer is an offering to Allah, fasting is a shield, and charity puts out a misdeed just as snow disappears on rock.”
Hadith related in Sahih Ibn Hibban, featured in Sila’s Legacies series on Instagram
TIMESTAMPS:
02:00 What is a ghadi?
03:50 The desire to be unique
05:00 Early morning construction workers
07:50 Living among Muslims gives a sense of purpose
9:45 What is your driving force?
11:30 You’re not as free as you think
13:45 True liberation
15:00 The wondrous state of the believer
18:00 Postmodernism and the individualization of meaning
20:00 From confidence to incoherence
22:10 Can male ulama understand women’s concerns?
24:30 Why we distrust religious authority
27:17 Eastern Muslim attraction to Western individualism
28:44 The perspectival advantage of American Muslims
30:55 Unified in purpose; diverse in form
32:50 The only real need of the human being
34:00 Unified purpose as antidote to contemporary anxiety
#intention
#postmodernism,
#purpose of life