Revive Your Heart: Putting Life in Perspective

ʿinda Rabbika
— in the
closeness to your Master but from your Master’s perspective. Then you get that
thawāb
.
Wa-khayrun amalan
—and it is better, what a beautiful conclusion. And these
few good things that you will do are also better—
amalan
—in terms of putting
your hopes in them. 
Amal
in the Arabic language means long-term aspiration.
You have a little bit of money in the bank, you constantly go every couple of
days, maybe every day, you log in and look at the balance and you say, ‘Okay,
I’m going to put this money over here. I’m going to use this one to do that, I’m
going to use this one to do this. In a couple of years I’ll buy this property. Maybe
I’ll extend the house a little bit more, maybe I’ll put a pool in the back yard,
maybe I’ll do this, maybe I’ll do that’, you have all these plans. I’m going to pay
the kids tuition from this money. I’ll keep the investments over here—we’re
constantly thinking about the long term. What do you hope to do long term with
this, this and this.
Allah says: yes, you can have long term hopes about your education, where
you’re going to get a job, where you’re going to move, where you are going to
live. You can have long term hopes about what kind of car you’re going to get,
what kind of house you’re going to live in, what kind of business you’re going to
start. You can have long term aspirations, but let me tell you the few good things
that you have done, you should have long term aspirations with those deeds
because those deeds didn’t die. That 
ṣalāh
you made on time; it didn’t die. That
ṣalāh
is alive and it will come back to benefit you on Judgement Day. That
brother you helped out, who was in need, who didn’t even ask and you helped
out, on your own. That is an investment you made with Allah and it will not die.
You don’t have to login and check on it again. Allah is growing it, Allah is
growing that investment. That one good bit of advice you gave, you pointed
somebody in the right direction like the Prophet (
ṣallā Allāh ʿalayhi wa-sallam
)
says—
al-dāll ʿalā al-khayr ka-fāʿilihī
—someone who points to something good
is like the one who did it himself. Someone benefitted from that; those are
investments you and I made for our 
ākhirah
—
khayrun ʿinda Rabbika thawāban
wa-khayrun amalan
.
Now as I conclude, I will leave you with these last words. The entire imagery

---

so far has been about things that get planted into the earth; about things that
come out, and then they become worthless, and then the winds just move them
around. Then Allah says now you should think about yourselves; you have been
planted on this earth. The things you own and how they’re going to be moved
around; you’re not going to keep them forever. What does Allah (
ʿazza wa-jall
)
say after this beautiful example, this powerful example? He says:
Bear in mind the Day when We shall set the mountains in motion and
you will find the earth void and bare. On that Day We shall muster all
men together, leaving none of them behind.
(Al-Kahf 18: 47)
Wa-yawma nusayyir al-jibāl
—and a day will come, forget about plants
moving around with the winds, the day on which we will make the mountains
sail. When mountains are going to be uprooted, forget about plants. 
Wa-yawma
nusayyir al-jibāl wa-tarā al-arḍ bārizah
—and you will see the earth bare, it will
expose what it really has inside—
wa-tarā al-arḍ bārizah
. 
Wa-ḥasharnāhum
—
and we will herd them like animals—