Revive Your Heart: Putting Life in Perspective

Astaghfir Allāh al-ʿazīm
!
What kind of a primitive Muslim are you? You don’t even have an iPhone 5!’
‘You only have an iPhone 5C? Oh, 
miskīn
, you don’t have a 5S.’ Then, even the
one that has a 5S is making 
duʿā’
, late at night: when is the new iPhone 6
coming out?
The idea of you just constantly being dissatisfied with what you have. It’s
not enough for you! You want something more, then you want something more,
and more after that. It’s a constant thing. By the way, human beings have a
tendency to want something better. We have that. We’re always going to like
another car—it’s always going to be there. We’re always going to drive past a
nice neighbourhood and like the neighbourhood, it’s natural! You’re always
going to go to some store and look at some clothes that you cannot afford or
didn’t buy, but they’re nice. We have that inside of us, but the difference
between that and a 
mubadhdhir
is that the 
mubadhdhir
has no brakes. He sees it,
he likes it, he gets it. He just gets it. He doesn’t think about the consequences.
You can like things, but you have to have a sense of limits. Put some brakes on!
You don’t have to get everything you like! You can learn to be a little more
satisfied with what you have. Be happy with what you have. You can spend on
things you like, but don’t overspend on things you like, because once that
becomes an addiction then: 
inna al-mubadhdhirīn
kānū ikhwān al-shayāṭīn, wa-
kāna al-shayṭān li-Rabbihī kafūrā
.
May Allah (
ʿazza wa-jall
) make us people who are serious about the way
they think about their money. Because the next 
āyah
is about money, but I know
I’m getting late, I will just share it very quickly with you. Allah describes the
scenario of a person who has some money, and then a relative comes to them, or
a poor person comes to them, or a neighbour, or a 
miskīn
comes to them and asks
them for help. Maybe you don’t have anything right now. Maybe you’ve put
your money in some investment already, or you barely have enough for yourself,
and you’re not able to give them anything. Sometimes people ask, and you’re
not able to give.

---

And when you must turn away from them— (that is, from the
destitute, the near of kin, the needy, and the wayfarer)—in pursuit of
God’s Mercy which you expect to receive, then speak to them kindly.
(Al-Isrā’ 17: 28)
Wa-immā tuʿriḍanna ʿanhum
—and if you are avoiding those people who are
asking you, you’re kind of getting away from them because you’re embarrased
that you don’t have anything to give. 
Wa-immā tuʿriḍanna ʿanhum ibtighā’
raḥmatin min Rabbika
—you’re only avoiding them because you’re seeking
raḥmah
from your 
Rabb
. What in the world does that mean? There are some
people that when somebody comes and asks them they say, ‘I don’t have
anything’ in a very harsh tone. For example, the homeless guy at the red light
comes to the window, but you say, ‘I don’t have anything bro, just go to the next
car’, in a dismissive manner; you push him away like that. No! Allah is saying if
they come to you and you try to respectfully avoid them. The way in which you
avoid them shows that you yourself are a 
faqīr
, you are desperately in need of
the 
raḥmah
of your 
Rabb
. Meaning Allah is watching, even when you say no.
This person is a 
faqīr
for money, but you are a 
faqīr
for the 
raḥmah
of Allah.
You are bankrupt for the