Why Doing the Right Thing Can Feel Wrong

Bismillah asalam allayikum. Hi everyone and welcome to the 16th episode of the baraka blueprint. This is the podcast where we talk about the optimal balance of faith and focus to achieve truly lasting success. My name is Ibraim Sharif and today we will be talking about a question that someone tends to ask themselves especially if they are a practicing Muslim in a non-Muslim or a non-practicing environment which is why does the right thing feel so wrong for example not shaking hands with the opposite gender something that we Muslims practice or try to practice and when we do we are made to feel that this is wrong or immoral for some reason or in other situations where where it's time for prayer and you feel like you have to hide in order to pray. You're only doing that if it was to feel in a way or another wrong. Now the only logical question here is why? Why does it feel that it is wrong? So we'll explore this and we'll explore why that is the case and how we can how we can actually overcome that feeling and not just overcome it but how we can be proud with our identity. So let's get to work in baraka style. Often doing the right thing can feel so wrong. But it doesn't mean that the person is not right. It doesn't mean that we're not right. Because even though it may cost you the approval of your network or your surroundings or your friends, even if it may appear to make you look like a weirdo for putting your head on the floor on the uh grass field outside of your workplace, it doesn't mean that you're wrong. Even if it appears to be weird. Now, why am I saying this? Because ultimately our moral compass as Muslims is that whatever God has ordained and dictated, we take that and we abide by that and we follow that to the tea and whatever we have been prohibited from doing, we avoid it at all costs. The Quran says, for example, whatever God and his messenger gave you, you take it and whatever they forbade you from doing, you abstain from doing. Like check this. At work, for example, or in school, it's very often that you find people clapping for the most unislamic moment or the anti-Islamic moment. Even these days, if you were to say something that is against the hijab, against prayer, against believing in God, whatever it is, people seem to think that this is the cool thing and they clap for it. And obviously, it's it shouldn't come to a surprise. Why? Because this is a secular society. It is a society that is godless. So of course the most applauded concept or the most applauded idea is that which goes against God. And that's why whoever stands out from that crowd is going to be seen as the weirdo. So if you are going to ask to be excused to go outside to pray or to temporarily leave the gathering to go and perform or whatever. That's it. You are the weirdo in that group because you are the person who adheres to divine laws in an environment that goes against divine laws. In an environment that chooses secular laws, secular understanding and any understanding that takes you away from God. And just like oil and water can't mix, darkness and light can't mix. A a a spotlight from your I don't know from your flashlight or whatever is always going to be contrasted from a pitch black room. That's always meant to be the case. Darkness and light do not mix. They are clear difference. So, this is what this episode really is about. It's about the challenging part of obedience, the challenging part of trying to stay God conscious and to obey the blueprint that we have been given. And as much as it hurts and as much as it is challenging, it is something that we have to do. But we also have to understand that this is a challenge and it's a challenge that we need to talk about. It's a challenge that we need to address. It is better to address those challenges and discuss together and huddle together how to overcome those challenges rather than letting them consume us and later it consumes our morals and principles. Now believe you me you are not the first person to feel lonely for obeying God. Let me give you an example. The prophet Noisam called his people and did his dawa for not a year, not 10 years, not even a hundred years. 950 years was spent by that prophet to call the people to worshiping one God and one God alone. Now the Quran says only a few believed in his cause. So imagine the loneliness that one can feel from spending 950 years calling generation after generation and only a very few believe in your message. Now despite all of that it didn't take away anything from his obedience. He still obeyed God Almighty and he he obeyed the cause and he still called people to that very same obedience. and those whose footprints we're walking on because we're walking on the footprints of the uh prophets and messengers. They left us blueprint and footprints for us to follow. Uh for example, the Quran says in you have been left a good example in them. The prophets have been left as good examples for us believers in God to follow their footprints. So why am I saying this? Yeah, because the prophetam gave an example of what we can do to achieve success from almighty god. And this is something that he was telling the people who kept ignoring his message and those of his of his civilization that he was calling to the worship of one god. He said he gave the advice to his people to ask for God's forgiveness. Why did he give that advice? Because there were three promises that were tangible or tangent to the act of asking or seeking God's forgiveness. number one getting blessings and sustenance. Number two, uh increasing in wealth and status. And number three, achieving paradise and achieving a good life. So all of that is strictly and purely coming from the act of asking and seeking God's forgiveness. Standing up for the truth can also sometimes mean going against certain family traditions and values. Like for example, the prophet of God, Abraham, Ibrahimisam, he went against his own father. He admired and respected and loved so much because his people were worshiping idols. Imagine the loneliness of that. Imagine being condemned by your own family for worshiping one God and one God alone. Or the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam and his hardships that he had to that he had to go through. for example, being thrown stones and harmful objects by the people of and other civilizations that tried to uh mock and belittle him. So what I'm trying to say is obedience and obeying God Almighty, it comes with a price and sometimes a hefty price, but the reward is priceless. So let me tell you about an example of mine. I used to work in a uh school in Sweden teaching maths and natural sciences and suddenly one day I am called into the principal's office and I was told that I no longer am going to be working there. For me it was completely fine. But when I started asking why is or rather when I was forcing the why is when I got the answer that hm this has to do with the fact that you're seen as a what religious extremist or something. Now one thing we learn in project management is root cause analysis and root cause analysis is something that I used to do way back as well. So when you ask multiple wise, suddenly it all came back to the one time I went outside on a sunny day to pray. Simply simply praying can get you to seem like a person with extreme tendencies. It gets you to seem strange. I want to say and that reminds me of the hadith found in the records of Muslim or Muslim where the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said that Islam begins as a strange religion and it return as it returns as a as a strange religion and he ends by saying so give glad tidings to the strangers. So I guess with that being said don't chase being normal. You don't have to be the normal as the civilization or the society dictates. What you have to do is you chase the actions that give baraka. So obedience can come with a cost and it can cost you comfort but it builds a life that doesn't collapse. It builds a life of baraka. So this is what I did and what I also recommend you to do to maintain that form and maintain that momentum. Number one, dua and especially dua for being strong and having stable grounds or tabat in Arabic. Why? Because God Almighty loves the people that seek his help and ask him for aid, sustenance and support. Number two is to find a righteous company. very very important to have company around you that stand together with you in your principles because alone even though we c some of us can be a bit stronger than others but we are definitely much stronger in a community and in a group no matter who the person is no matter who the person is with their strength profile they will always be much stronger in a community the important thing is that this community isn't a community that drains you drains your energy and goes against your principles. And number two, remember that this life is just it I mean it's it's it's fake. It's an illusion at the end of the day. And it's only a pit stop. The actual life begins after we die. So remember that all of this that you're feeling, all of this that you're going through, it's just temporary. One thing that can give you a lot of strength and especially a lot of self-nowledge and self-reflection is the act of journaling. If you're not doing it, I highly recommend you do that. Be it in whatever format you want. You don't have to follow a specific format, but if you write down the reflections that go through your head, things that have challenged you and what you are thinking and reflecting about them and also things that you're grateful for will definitely help you a long way at the very very least because we are people that constantly have great ideas that flow through us whether a lot or not so many great ideas. But you you will consider great ideas. can be about anything really. Write them down. Your brain is not meant to store these good ideas for a very long time. So if you have a second brain system like a journal or even digital systems like Obsidian, notion, whatever, you write those ideas down and you will then suddenly have them recorded for a longer time and for you to get back to and work on. And finally the advice of which is seek God's forgiveness for it comes with many blessings and many benefits and baraka doesn't always show up in comfort. It shows up to give you peace. So to wrap up the episode remember that at the end of the day it is very important to nourish your soul. It is very important to nourish your soul and the only way you can nourish your soul is to give it that which it recognizes. Your soul doesn't recognize anything else except God consciousness. And if your soul is not given God consciousness, ultimately you you you'll forget yourself. Just like Allahh said in do not be like those who forgot their Lord. So he made them forget themselves. You do not want to be a person that is lost and forgets themselves. And with that being said, that will be it for this episode of the Baraka Blueprint. Thank you for tuning in to the Baraka Blueprint podcast. If you like what you've heard, please give this video a thumbs up and uh subscribe to my channel for more upcoming and very exciting projects on the way. I have a uh very exciting project that I'm working on outside of the Baraka blueprint that has a little bit to do with Hijra, but a lot to do with something that I think all of us, especially in this digital day and age, can take benefit from. It's going to be a challenge that I have put for myself and uh I I will be sharing it on my YouTube channel. So, please stay tuned for that. For those of you listening in on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, please leave this podcast a review so I know what I'm doing that is beneficial and good or what I can do to further improve the delivery of this very important and crucial message. But until next time, stay purposeful and stay focused and stay strong in style. Asalamikum.