Life Is a Story, and You Are a Character (Campfire Edition)

Assalamu alaykum. Welcome to the Baraka Blueprint podcast. This podcast is for you, my dear listener, who wants to become the best version of themselves. For you who want the optimal version of yourself in faith, in focus and in your future by reaching success that truly lasts and that is only by blessing by baraka and the best baraka and the best blessing is following the one true blueprint which is the blueprint that Allah subhana wa tala has written for us. I'm your host, Ibrahim Sharif. This is season two of the Baraka Thank you so much for tuning in and ask Allah subhana t that this is an educational and an adventurous experience for you. Today I want to share with you a new concept. This is the Baraka blueprint campfire edition. So imagine sitting around a campfire either by yourself pondering and reflecting or with people people around you your friends your family and imagine the things that you would talk about. Now, usually what I would associate with topics around a campfire is stories. Usually I would associate that with I mean some people have horror stories just or jin stories what some people usually did. But for me, it's usually stories that bring you some reflection. And that's why I wanted the Campfire Edition podcast episodes to be a bit more reflective. And I'm inviting you my dear listener to provide and contribute with your reflections as well because we will be going through your reflections inshallah in the coming episodes. Now before I start I wanted to share something personal with you which is I have been trying to perfect the delivery of the baraka blueprint because I've had podcasts before that I have started and not finished in Sweden albeit audio only. So I promised myself to adopt the style of the style of attempted perfection from my side which is that if I am going to take on this project blueprints I will either deliver it perfectly or I will work on delivering it perfectly. Turns out I can't deliver it perfectly but I can always work on perfection. basically meaning that you always better yourself. So having that mindset, I focused on one goal to provide as much value to my listeners as possible. Alhamdulillah. I am very happy to say that I have been able to produce two things and both of them are fully for free and both of them can be accessed right now. The first thing is my free email education course for fiveday blueprint. Every day for five days, I will send you daily emails with my exact blueprint for where I am today. And with that, I will also send you some bonus assignments. And for every single day I will tell you very clearly how my process has been and what assignments you can take with yourself so that you inshallah push push your limits and reach your success. And I ask Allah subhana t to make that a reality for you. This can be accessed in the show notes in description or by visiting startyouhra.com. I repeat, start yourhra.com or by checking the show notes. The second thing is for those of you who want something more than that also I have a school community where I provide a realtime educational experience. I myself am the main test subject of this experiment which is that whatever I learn I share it with my audience. You joining this community, you will be a founding member of this community. You will be able to affect the development of this community and you will also be able to maintain a free for life access even if this becomes paid. In the beginning, I wanted to provide this entire package free of costs but full of value. So, make sure to participate in the Hijra Hackers School community by searching for Hijra Hackers in School or by clicking on the description link or in the show notes. Now, that being said, let's get back to the video. My dear listener, imagine sitting around a campfire you're pondering over the the story of life. You're pondering over the fact that everyone around you is a character. And why am I saying this to you? The reason why my dear listener is because life is a story. Life is a story and you are a character in that story. Every single one of us lives a different story. Everyone has their own show and everyone has a different cast in their show. And the reason why I'm saying this is because I mean I'm sure you've heard the sentiment. I'm sure you've heard people say, "Oh, this person thinks he's the main character or he has main character energy." There is some truth to that concept if you really think about it because ultimately you are the main character of your own story. You are you can be a main character that is successful and you have a success story. You can be a failed story. You can be a sad story. You can be a horror story. Even there are many possibilities for the types of stories that your character will go through. But everything depends on the blueprint you're following. Everything depends on the plot. The plot has been pre-written. But you are in luck. Why? The reason why you're in luck is because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the best storyteller and he's the one who wrote your story. Because what does he say in Ysef? He says, "We surely narrate to you the best of stories." Allahh is the best storyteller. He's the best writer. it is only fitting for a writer to be the best character writer, right? That makes sense. No, the best storyteller also is the best character teller. The best plot writer has the best character setup because if you don't relate to the characters, you're not going to relate to the story. Correct? Why am I saying all of this? Because let's think about it together. If you think through this dynamic, there are many things that will change suddenly. Suddenly, we will start accepting so many things that we otherwise are irritated by. I'll give you an example. The fact that certain hardships befall us, fall onto our path or our loved ones. And as painful as they may be, you have every right to feel that pain. Something that can alleviate that pain, my dear listener, is that this was all written and this all serves a purpose in your story. Allah subhana wa ta'ala says in the Quran, You may dislike something that is beneficial for you. You may like something that is harmful for you. For verily God knows and you don't. Verily God knows and we don't. the events that happen in our lives, we don't necessarily have the capacity to explain them or even understand them. My beloved Hamza, may Allah preserve him. When I took part in his lessons and classes, he would look at us and he would always say something that kept echoing in my head. Like still seven years back until today, it echoes in my head. He says, "God has the picture and you can only see the pixel." That's true. That is so true. And I've never seen a more vivid description in front of me. We judge life based on this red dot or this black and yellow and purple and orange dot that we're standing on and say these are the colors and that's it. Of course, we're going to say that because we can't see the picture. We won't be able to see the picture. But it surely helps to understand that there is a picture. So what I'm trying to say is when you have that mindset and when you have that understanding that ultimately everyone around you is a character in a pre-written story, this helps you accept the plot so much more. And it also helps to understand that we live in a story where we have the possibility to explore other stories. We learn from previously told stories, previously lived stories, previously experienced stories. Take a look at the Quran. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us the life story of multiple prophets. In their very experiences, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala teaches us how we should act in particular situations. And I'm going to make the claim and I'm going to say that this covers every situation. Allahh says in the Quran we have not let left left anything untouched anything not covered in the Quran everything is covered for those who have understanding may Allah grant us understanding and everything can be taught and learned from the stories of the prophets even how to make dua even how to deal with a difficulty I'll give you an example the prophet is known for having had a trial difficulty a challenge from Allahh which was a sickness Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions mentions his situation in a couple of instances in the Quran in one instance he says called to Allah subhanahu wa tala he says I have been afflicted by Satan with a disease and a punishment. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala responds to him and in that instance we learn that got an instruction an instruction that basically hey you you need to work on this. He received instructions and steps on how he's going to work on this. But in the other instance, surprisingly the wording is different. am says calls out to Allah subhana t and he says I have been afflicted by pain and you are the most merciful of those that have mercy. And Allahh replies here the answer is instant. The reply to the dua is instant. What does that mean? This gives us a blueprint for how we should ask dua, how we should call out to Almighty God. Now we know that suddenly calling out to Allah subhana wa ta is no longer just by saying hey God I have this help me. There is a blueprint even for how to make dua. There is a blueprint for how you can ask God for help which is by calling out to God's attributes right or the story of Ibraim calling out to calling out to the oneness of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and the rights ideology and the one true ideology and the one he faced that challenge alone. There was no one around him. He didn't have a following. It was just himself as a young man and the the response of his people. But before we even address that, let's take a look at Ibraim. reasoning and we have to understand that whatever the prophets were given and how they were acting in their mannerisms this was only possible from Allah subhana wa ta'ala so Ibraimisam took on that path what did Allah subhana wa tala grant Ibraimisam he granted him unmatched wisdom unparalleled wisdom and unparalleled rhetoric because what he started to do is he started to think of very wise strategies. He destroyed the idols and just left one their the idol's main character. So when the people came and questioned him and said, "Hey, you've been criticizing our idols before. Did you destroy them?" And he just looked and said, "Nah, it's it's this dude over there right there." And then he killed the argument because they would reply and say but they can't do it. Ah so why do you worship them if they can't even do that? He was given unparalleled wisdom. Now the reaction of the people was that what they threw him into the fire and Allah subhana wa ta'ala made even even the fire didn't burn him. Even the fire was calling for him. We said, "Oh fire, be cool and peaceful to Ibraim." What we learned from this is when you take on the path of calling to the truth and calling to and standing your ground, no matter how difficult it is, Even fiery heated situations will be made cool for you. However turmoil, however much turmoil there seems to be, however turbulent they may seem to be those situations, that fire will be made cool for you. And that's why Allah says, "We have given you an example out of and those that followed him." And about the prophets, he says, "And in them the prophets, you have been given a perfect example." And the best example we have been given is that of the prophet indeed in the messenger of Allah subhana t we have given you the perfect example to those who believe in God Almighty the last day and those that are a lot in remembrance those who remember Allah a lot. This takes me to my final reflection before I close off this episode. My dear listener, that for you as a character, you need to understand your plots. You need to understand your plots if your character is going to perform and perform correctly and perform successfully. If you don't do that, you're going to be lost. Now, the example here is to follow the blueprint that Allahh has given us. And it made me think a lot about the verse where Allahhana wa ta don't be like those who forgot their lord so he made them forget themselves. And when I when I think about it this way from the perspective of us being characters in a story it makes perfect sense that when a character doesn't recognize the story the character doesn't recognize his own character sheets. That makes perfect sense. one way to deal with that and one way to protect yourself from that my dear listener is increase in the increase in God remembrance increase in God consciousness. It's very important and that is a reminder to the speaker before it reaches the ears of the listener. That being said, before I let you guys go, I want to say this very, very important, very important. I am not making any taps of the Quran. This is not Ibraim's. This is not any of that. This is not even a qualified interpretation of the Quran. This is me just reflecting because what we do around the campfire, my dear listeners, this is no place of having your own interpretations and enforcing your own view. No, we're sitting around a campfire. We discuss, we learn from one another, we reflect together. Allah subhana wa ta'ala praises those that reflect. So may Allahh make us among them and may Allah subhana ta make us among those who are believers in him his last day and those that have their minds, their hearts and their tongues full of God consciousness and God remembrance. Thank you so much for tuning in to the Baraka Blueprint podcast around the campfire. If you like what you've heard, remember there is so much more where this is coming from. You have my free email education course at startyouhra.com and you have my hedro hackers school community that you're more than welcome to join. I'm also there in Instagram and Tik Tok if you want to connect with me. If you have any questions, I answer my DMs. If you have any collaborations or anything that you want to do, hit me up. I am more than happy to help and share my experience and thoughts and I welcome your feedback. If you have anything you want to share with me, remember stay focused, stay faithful and have your own future in your best interests and in baraka style.