The Qur'an Is Your Compass, Not Decor

Assalamu alaykum. Welcome to the Baraka Blueprint podcast. This is the podcast for you, my dear listener, who is looking to become the best possible version of himself or herself. For you who wants to achieve spiritual success, who wants to remain focused on the mission and who wants to remain focused on their faithful journey. This is for you who wants to achieve success in dunya without sacrificing your dean and your this podcast is for you who wants to learn how to project manage their lives and how to to to attract to gain as much possible value as they can from the people around them and from the experiences they go through. My name is Ibrahim Sharif and this is another edition or this is another episode of the campfire edition. In today's episode, I wanted to specifically talk about the concept of the Quranic compass. And to give credit where credit is due, I listened to an episode of a of an Arabic podcast called literally translated as without paper. And if you ask me, humbly speaking, I think this is the best Arabspeaking podcast that is out there. For those of you who speak Arabic or even for those of you who are learning Arabic, I highly recommend you to check the podcast. And an esteemed guest by the name of Dr. May Allah subhana wa tala bless him had an episode where he talked about the Quranic compass. Boy, what a life-changing episode this was. I've already listened to this episode so many times and I'm telling you it's not even enough. And every single time I listen to it, I love it even more for a very simple reason. I believe this is the only episode and for those for those of you who are listening to that podcast as well, please correct me if I'm wrong. I believe this is the only episode that strictly and purely talks about the Quran. I think this is so inspiring really. And this reminds me of a thing that when you recite the Quran and when you beautify your recitation even with the Quran, Subhan Allah, for some reason everything around you becomes beautiful. Everything around you is beautified. The other day, for example, I was sitting with uh friends and family on our way to an activity in Dubai. And on the road there I I don't know I was feeling a little bit anxious and simultaneously I picked up my I and I just continue from in my so wherever I left last I continue up until I do up until I complete the Quran and then I start from the beginning. So I was then in chapter 14 of the Quran Ibraim ironically enough I decided to not just recite it quickly out of revision's sake which is what I usually do when I revise. I decided to beautify my recitation a little bit in terms of doing it calmly, giving the the letters, the rules, the rights and take it step by step. And honestly, everything around me became so much more beautiful that day. suddenly became one of the better days I've had. Every single thing I am seeing around me, I beautify it in my eyes. Suddenly I remember every single thing around me that is favorable and that has been bestowed upon me as a favor. I became so much more grateful for everything. Which is ironic because Allah subhana wa ta says in that very same chapter chapter number 14 verse number seven Allah subhana wa ta'ala gives a clear mirror image where he says if you are grateful I will give you more but if you're not if you're doing the opposite my punishment is severe. Now, what does that mean? It can mean basically that your favors are taken away from you. It can mean that you're going to go through hardships, that you're going to go through some sort of torment in whichever possible way it is. through something in the hereafter that truly reminds you that should that you should have been grateful. Now the biggest sign of being ungrateful is to not listen to your lord and is not is to not follow his message. The biggest sign of is of of ungratefulness is kufur. The biggest part of ungratefulness is kufur. Kufur disbelief in Almighty God is the worst possible way of being ungrateful to God. It's the most severe and therefore it gets the most severe punishment. So the more ungrateful you are, the more severe the punishment. And the more grateful you are because as you can see life has its way of being a gradient of being a mirror image because life is an art piece. And the opposite is very true. And the more grateful you are, the more rewarded you get. So the more grateful you are in life, the more your life is beautified. And the best way to be grateful is to attach yourself to God Almighty as much as you possibly can. Think about it this way. You're grateful for someone to have given you a favor. Let's say they they were your contact to land your dream job or they bought you this gift, whatever it is right now. The very least you can say is is thank you and to show them. But what about showing people gratitude? There are so many things. There are so many things you can do. Give them gifts, spend time with them, spend quality time with them, whatever it is, right? I mean, I'm hoping that you guys have gone through this many times, so I'm sure you understand what I mean. But the best way to show gratitude to Allah subhana wa ta'ala is to follow what he tells you. Simple. And to attach yourself to the things that Allah subhana wa ta'ala has installed and those things that are part of him. What is part of God? His speech. God's speech. The Quran is God's speech. The more you attach yourself to the speech of God and the words of God, the closer you get to God, which means the closer you get to perfection, the closer you get to maximal beauty, which means your life is going to be beautified. Now, why am I saying all of this in relation to the Quranic compass? Well, because there's something very interesting that was that I found in the Islamic declaration, a a a a wonderful piece that was written by the late Aliab and he said, "We believe in the holiness or the sanity of the Quran as a concept or a thing but not as an ideology. We don't believe in it as an ideology. And subhan Allah. This is very very true because we talk about the holiness of the Quran. We talk about the Quran being noble and that we honor it and we get so pissed when someone dares to burn it. like in Sweden for example or in other countries people are clearly showing displeasure with this happening. So we believe in the holiness and the sanity of the Quran as a thing or as a concept but we don't implement it in our lives. We don't implement it in the educational institutions. We don't implement it in the workplace or its rulings in the workplace. We don't implement the logic of the Quran. We don't implement the wisdom of the Quran well because why? Honestly, why is it because we don't believe in the ideology? Is it because we are assuming things about the Quran? are assuming that the Quran is contradictory to certain things. So when I read that from uh Aliovich, I thought this was truly for me it absolutely introduced a paradigm shift. introduced a great paradigm shift and hearing the the wisdom from he talked about something similar as well. He said that like our case with the Quran is like when a company hires someone and they give that person the nicest office like the most luxurious office albeit away from the team that they were supposed to work with and they tell that person that they hire just sit here in your office just don't do anything. And that person is highly overqualified. Like they have every certification and degree you can think of. And you tell them, "No, no, no, no, no. Don't work. You're you're highly qualified. You're you're that important that we don't want you to move from your chair." Now, first day, second day, people just go and say, "Hi, and then hello, how are you?" And then just they just pass by the office. That person doesn't doesn't do any possible work. They're not allowed to work. They're not part of the team. Now how respected is that person going to feel? Sure they will have the most luxurious and they have like everything around them is luxurious and like they get the best treatment materially but but they don't get the best treatment in their career where things really matter. Such is our example with the Quran. I mean, we get, like I said, we get pissed when someone disrespects it, and we understand that we have to be pure before we touch it, but we don't really practice the Quran. Now, how do we change this? How do we change this? something that I have been thinking about as well. And if I'm going to be honest, I really have no possible clue. I have no idea. But I can take a guess and my guess is this. I believe what one way we can ensure that we get closer to the Quran or sorry we start to implement the Quran in our lives is simply by getting closer to it. simply by having a habit, a routine of reciting the Quran. The more we recite it, the more we implement it in our lives, in our daily routines, the more we will be able to practice it and the more we'll be able to preach it and to propagate it on every or to every single person around us. Which is why one thing I'm thinking about subhan Allah is and I had a conversation with a friend about this earlier and again also subhan Allah hearing this in the very same episode uh the question was raised why is there a fat in the Quran and not aim well because it never ends. Why is there a beginning, an opening, but not a closing, a closing act, an end? And the reason why I have to check my battery for a second here. The reason why simply because is your journey should never end with the Quran. It's it's a continuous endless loop. It's there's an opening but then there is no closing. So the loop continues. Such is really everything in life if you think about it, right? Because I mean yes, this is this this concept is introduced in the Quran, but you can apply it on every aspect of your life. Your coding abilities, for example, I mean you can learn or you can spend the time in uni or whatever educational pathway you choose for yourself to learn that skill. and you stop practicing that skill except when you're working. And when you're and when you're working, you're practicing the skill to the extent that gets the work done and that's it. Your abilities are not going to be better because you've stopped practicing that skill set. But the more you challenge yourself, something that is even said in the book peak by Andes Ericson, uh, otherwise known as a qualitative hour or qualitative time. The more qualitative time or challenging time that you put for a particular task, the more you're going to grow. This is also a reason why new drivers or drivers that haven't driven in many years will be better drivers than those that have driven in multiple decades. Because the the recent driver is putting more qualitative hours, meaning they are growing more. But the person who's been driving for decades and decades, that person never grows or doesn't grow because they're not putting qualitative hours. I'm heavily paraphrasing what is mentioned in the book. I recommend the book Peak by Andes. Those of those who haven't read it, go give it a read. So with that being said, I I can only say one thing. I can say that we need to implement the Quranic compass in our lives. The compass that we have to tell us what is right and what is wrong is the Quran. So we should stop treating the Quran just as a thing and a concept or the holiness and necessity of the Quran as a thing and a concept. We should understand that this is an ideology. We need to stick to it no matter what. So, I hope that this reminder serves you and serves me and firstly benefits me and then benefits you because like I said, I'm doing the I'm doing this podcast for selfish reasons. I want to grow first and foremost. But I pray that Allah subhana t allows you to benefit from this as well. The reminder that I want to give is start bettering your habits with a plan and implement it in every single thing you're doing. And trust me, believe you mei because this is something I am I am living this and seeing this every single day even in my workplace truly and in my social encounters and in my connections and in my network and when I play paddle. Literally I I see this every sing everywhere I turn my face. The more I practice the Quran, the more I implement the Quran and the closer I get to the Quran, the better all of these aspects get. And I will end with the narration from the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam where he said that it will be said to the reciter of the Quran, recite and beautify your and elevate and beautify your recitation as you beautified it in dunya. Why? Because your final destination is on the final verse you're landing on. looking at the hadith on face value, you're going to think that, oh, well, this is about reciting as much as possible or memorizing as much as possible. But if you read between the lines, you will you will truly understand that when Allah when the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said that and he connected the recitation of the Quran, he said recite and elevate. It means that the more you attach yourself with the Quran, the more you are elevated. And that analogy is materializing in the day of judgment because the more you recite it, the more you'll be elevated in the day of judgment and your rank will increase. If your rank increases in the highest level or in the in the in the life that truly matters, which is the afterlife, don't you think it's going to increase and elevate in this nonsense that we're living in? Because dunya is nothing. It's the blow nonsense. It means nothing compared to compared to the hereafter [Music] says Allah subhana and I'm I'm starting to I'm starting to doubt if I even recited the verse correctly. I'm going to look at it after the No, I'll do it now. Yes, I I mixed it up. Alhamdulillah. Thank God that I spent all of this time just to check the verse. It's better to be safe than sorry. And especially with the Quran, the Quran is to be respected. Quran is to be respected. Simply it means that you check yourself before you recite. something that I should have done as well. But you don't continue if you're if you're not sure. This is this this is not like like quoting a book where you could misquote the the author but you know parap paraphrase to a certain way. Anyway, the verse means this particular life is only games and time wastage. I'm paraphrasing, sorry, but and I'm paraphrasing by translation. I mean, but the hereafter is the true life. That's where things really matter. So if where things really matter, beautifying your recitation and then and and and sticking close to the Quran and getting closer to the Quran elevates you. What do you think it will do here in the place that is just of course it will elevate you as well. So that being said thank you for tuning in to the blueprint podcast. If you like what you've heard make sure to leave a like, a rating, a subscription, a follow, and share this share this with anyone you think will benefit from this episode. And before I let you go, I want to share something personal with you. I started the Bodica Blueprint as a podcast, mainly because I missed podcasting and I wanted to try having a YouTube channel and see how it's going to work. But it turns out that it became so much more. The Bodaka Blueprint became a movement. The buttercup blueprint became more than a podcast I want to tell you two things that I have built and that I want to share with you and for the moment they are free of charge. The first one is my email education course which is also tied to my weekly Thursday newsletter. If you go to startyouhra.com, I will give you a fiveday blueprint for free with steps on what you can do to start elevating your life and to take a closer step to hijra. you will also partake in weekly assignments, assignments that I give you on actionable things that you can implement and that you can do so that you take that one closer step. Again, it is at startyourra.com. The link is in the show notes. I also have a free school community or at least for now it is for free and it's called the Hedra hackers in school. I give out free courses and community events on a monthly basis. Live community events in Google meets where we have skill building workshops and even planning on having a live podcast episode recording. Um, I have I have free courses such as build a brand with me where I show everyone what they can do to start building brands as a graphic designer and I show them my entire workflow from getting the client brief up until the brand is built and created. I have courses such as uh build your 90-day blueprint or your 90-day road map. basically setting up a 90-day roadmap on building your skill set through the way of a project manager by using management apps like notion where instead of having to build your databases, I show you how I do it and I give it to you free of charge as a template. So for now, all of this value is free of charge. So, what you have to do very simply is go to school, check out Hedrahackers or just join it in the the link in the show notes. Simple. I have my vlogs on YouTube which I call a journey of a CEO because I am intending on starting a company. So I I want to show you the process unscripted, raw, real, unedited. Even only editing is maybe add some fun text and just collate the this the video together. And I also have uh you can also follow me on Instagram and Tik Tok where I share other updates in my life if this interests you and where you can get to interact with me where whenever I have a live recording. Not that I have it as often. But that being said, I want to thank you so much for tuning in. Uh your support is really appreciated and I continue to appreciate the more support I get. Remember to stay focused on your mission and on your core and do that in baraka style. And until next time, What happens in love?