Pursuit of happiness

Fajr Reminders - Mahmood Habib Masjid and Islamic Center

Auto-generated transcript: Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim. Alhamdulillah, Rabbil Alameen. Wasalaatuhu wa Salamu ala ashrafil anbiya'i wa al mursaleen. Muhammadun Rasulullah, yaksumlullah alayhi wa ala alihi wa ala alihi wa sallam, tasliman kathirun qirdra. Wa ma ba'du. My brothers and sisters, let me ask you a question. I was looking for our gardeners who are very fond of gardening, but I don't see any of them here today. But anyway, I think most of us know enough to answer this question. And the question is that if you have, for example, an apple tree in your house, and you find that the apples are not good, there's something wrong with the apple. What will you treat, the tree or the apple? This is the problem. No, but he's right. This is the problem. This is the problem. The problem is when the apple is sick, when there is something wrong with the apple, people are trying to treat the apple. You can treat the apple, then you die, nothing will happen. Because the problem is with the tree. The problem is with the tree. If the tree is healthy, the apple is healthy. If the tree is sick, the apple will be sick. Right? As I tell people all the time, I don't make the laws. Allah made the laws. And Allah made the laws for our benefit, not for His benefit. Because he is Samad. Allah is free from all needs. The laws of Allah are for us. They are for our benefit. We follow the laws, we benefit. We don't follow the laws, we get hurt. Today we live in a world, especially in this country, because this is where this entire philosophy was born here. And has gone global now. But it's there everywhere. And that philosophy is the philosophy of the philosophy of the not of Allah. The worship of the self. The worship of desires. We are told to spend our life in pursuit of happiness. Yes? Pursuit of happiness. Good test. Now if you ask people, where is this happiness? I should pursue happiness where? In the park, in the market, in the house. What is happiness? Go a step before that and say, what is happiness? What is happiness? For example, if somebody is a drug addict, being addicted is happiness. If somebody is an alcoholic, being drunk is happiness. Yes or no? So people can be happy doing some things which are themselves completely toxic and completely terrible. Right? So is that happiness? So if you ask the guy, why do you drink so much? You're drinking, you're destroying your life, your life of your family and so on. I'm in pursuit of happiness. I'm supposed to be happy. I'm being happy. I'm very happy. He'll argue with you. What's your problem? You got a problem? What's your problem? I bought the alcohol with my money. I'm drinking. It's going into my body. What's your problem? I can make a long list of people doing things. That's not the purpose. Point being, what is happiness? Now, what does Islam tell us? Islam also tells us to live our life in pursuit of happiness. First of all, understand this. Islam is not the opposite of this. Islam also says, live your life in pursuit of happiness. But Islam tells us where this happiness is to be found. It doesn't leave you to decide because in the worldly sense, pursuit of happiness leaves you to decide. So anyone can decide, this makes me happy, I do that, that makes me happy, I do that. Islam says, no, no. Pursuit of happiness and we'll tell you where is it to be found. For example, if I have a problem with my plumbing in my house and I'm looking for a power drill and somebody says, go to CVS, you'll get it. Or go to Friendly's. They make nice ice cream. Excuse me, I don't want ice cream. I need a power drill. Go to Friendly's. How will you get power drills in Friendly's? You get power drills in Home Depot or you go to power drills in a place which sells power tools. So, I mean, this is it. So my question is, if you don't know where to find happiness, how will you find it? I'll give you another example. You all listen to the Quran. May Allah SWT bless the Sheikh. It's a beautiful recitation.