Who Are You When No One Is Watching?

Assalamu alaykum. Welcome to the Baraka Blueprint podcast. This podcast is for you who wants to become the best version of themselves. Optimal performance in your material matters without sacrificing your dean. We talk about the optimal balance between faith and focus and between dean and dunya which results in the best version of you as a Muslim. Whoever is watching this, be it a brother, a sister, whichever one of you in their respective journeys, my goal and I I I pray and I hope that this podcast leaves you at the very least with one beneficial thing that you can implement in your life and start working on immediately. I'm your host, Ibraim Sharif. This is the 31st episode of the Baraka Blueprint podcast. And as I was struggling to come up with a topic for today's podcast, I was going through my previous episodes and I found this very interesting theme that for some reason I have been ignoring and it's something that my guests have been talking about a lot. uh and I thought I wanted to bring it up today because it's about the reality that we need to face in today's day and age in today's social media pressure this performative pressure. The question is who are you really? Who am I really? Who's anybody really? Especially with how social media pressures everyone, especi especially content creators and myself included 110%. But also consumers because we keep consuming the content in all its shapes and forms, religious, non-religious, doesn't matter. We keep consuming content that pressures people to perform. That's why you see people, you know, documenting their acts of worship, you know, taking a picture of the prayer mat before the prayer. And look, hey, don't get me wrong, I'm even throwing shade at myself. Those of you who follow me on Instagram, you do see that I keep posting images of the masid and, you know, the the prayer breaks at work and all of this. Now, of course, we can get into asking what is the intention really, but this is also what I want to talk about today. So, I had a conversation with Canyon Mims, those of you who remember back in season 1, he mentioned something that I am really taking to heart, subhan Allah. And he talks about he we we we talked about the importance of you know becoming your true self. Who are you really even behind closed doors and something that he mentions is that we tend to put this facade to you know impress people. You can find it even in one of the short clips if you check my socials even the um uh even even be it YouTube shorts or Instagram whatever I'll link to the um episode. So do do go ahead and watch the episode. It was a very powerful episode also. He's officially the first guest of the Baraka Blueprint and Canyon will remain the first guest of the Baraka Blueprint. Subhan Allah. But definitely what a statement and something that we really need to take to heart all of us because even those like myself for example you know I talk about my CEO journey or sharing the progress or documenting the journey you know subhan allah even it's it's crazy now it doesn't I think about it and I'm sorry to to take this detour. It's crazy how even this particular week I've seen this very same title on and on again. Subhan Allah. I'm constantly being reminded that maybe there is something that I'm doing wrong that I need to fix. Subhan Allah. But even brother Islam uh Islam arts NYC from the the founder of Eari a brand that I definitely recommend you check out and I'll leave the link in the description inshallah and I hope I remember to leave the link in the description. Uh he talked this talking about the exact same thing. Subhan Allah and his socials and other brothers were talking about something similar in my in my circle of friends and now that I think about it and I even told brother Islam about this there's a there's a very thin line a very very very thin line between documenting something for the sole purpose of inspiring positive change an inspiring goodness or under the disguise of as it is called enjoining the good and forbidding the evil. There's a very thin line between between doing this with full honesty that you want to influence a positive change and to be performative. Now, subhan Allah also the episode with just Omar again linking it in the um in the video do go ahead and watch that episode as well. very powerful episode subh a very powerful conversation with brother Sudik that at a certain point life can become very performative like everything is about performance it's about looking a certain way it's about performing a certain way as if life is only and only remains a theater of sorts Very often we forget that the people we really are are the people or the the people we choose to be behind closed doors. You know when nobody sees, nobody hears, nobody can witness you, nobody can hold you accountable. But we forget we forget that the one to hold us accountable Allahh God almighty ultimately everything is visible to him like for example it says in the Quran he knows that which eyes don't see and that which is enclosed in our chest our deepest thoughts the the the the the deeds that we're trying to hide from others, all of that is known to Allah subhana wa ta'ala. All of that is made visible and and will be made visible as well on the day of judgment. and not that we don't have Quran and Sunnah for better reference but in the book at the atomic habits uh the author mentions something very interesting. So he talks about this this notion of you know we make up versions of oursel of ourselves right we want to become x y and zed be it's a reader like someone who reads a lot of books a fit healthy person someone who goes to the gym Somebody who doesn't waste time, somebody who's not distracted easily by well, whatever distractions we have around us, you know, as if as if there's a poverty of distractions, right? Be it if you're on your phone, your computer, your gaming console, your whatever, right? All of this nonsense is ultimately it's nonsense if we're going to be honest and not kid ourselves. Well, he so again to to to to atomic habits uh he he he references something that is called like you you're voting for the person. So meaning like whatever action you are taking, you're basically casting a vote to that person. So for example, if you pick yourself up from bed and you say, you know what, I'm going to go to the gym. I don't care. No matter what, no matter what I feel, I'm going to go to the gym. Right? You have casted a vote to the version of yourself that is fit and takes their takes their health seriously and that your well, let's say your muscular version or your your toned um version, right? Whatever. If you instead decide to binge watch a Netflix series and you know eat very unhealthy food or snack yourself to bed or whatever, you have instead casted a vote to the version of yourself that is lazy or to the version of yourself that is a copout. So all any all these actions that we're doing, we're casting a vote to that version of a person. Like for example, I saw this post the other day which said like even your private actions are going to be visible in your daily life. Like for example, your your your book reading habits is made apparent in your vocabulary and in your rhetorical ability. Your habit of going to the gym or staying healthy or staying fit shows in your physique. you know and like the many other things as well. So what you're doing in private technically speaking, I mean you're you're casting votes. You're casting votes for that for that particular version of of a person. Like for example, I'm going to be very very honest with you. Today is Thursday the 30th of October. While yeah, I do have many episodes in the pipeline that I have decided to release later, I had the intention of recording this episode a while ago. like we're talking Tuesday. Now, alhamdulillah, it didn't it wasn't made possible for whatever factors, but today honestly were like this week would be one of the weeks where I was considering to slack from this and not maybe maybe even put a last minute uh notice and say, "Hey, sorry, but I won't be able to release the episode or like the episode is going to delayed. Now, honestly, actually, what if I'm going to be again like full transparency, what what what kept me from doing this and, you know, pulling myself up as saying, "No, you know what? I I don't care. I am recording an episode. It's actually the consistency streak. I really don't want to lose the consistency streak if I'm going to be honest. That would be such a waste." No, but let's let's instead let's instead talk about what it is that demotivated the production of this particular episode. And what demotivated it be very very honest is is a lower level of engagement, you know, as in compared to what I would have dreamt of at this particular stage now that we're approaching November and Subhan Allah, goodness, the time flies very very quickly. Subhan Allah. Yeah. No, I'm I'm saying um I'm saying that like this like the likes and the follows and the visibility and the engagement and people saying wow and like the lack of that or the lower amount of that actually demotivated me. Well, while in reality what I should have done or and what I should do instead is to say no, I'm I'm doing this for a very different reason. If my intention if my intention is strongly for the sake of Allahh and primarily for the sake of God and primarily to produce something of benefit that will help you know one person with one thing, you know, in a in a certain way so that I can get the so I can get the reward from God. If that was to be the true intention, then honestly, followers and likes and engagement, like seriously, all of that shouldn't matter. Really, it shouldn't matter. Seriously, this should be so out of priority. It it should be a a KPI sure where where we can measure the success metrics of your performance and like how how impactful your content is and use that to optimize your content or my content. Yes, sure. But that shouldn't be the make or break because honestly guys, this is a journey. I mean the the engagement shouldn't really matter but still you know because ultimately those of us like that that chose the path of content creation and chose that particular profession or this activity let's not kid ourselves guys let's be very very honest this can be quite demotivating so a reminder to myself first and foremost is to always always renew the intention and always remember remember your why. Now again we have Quran and Sunnah that is better referenced for uh such topics but considering the book start with why. I I quote as well before in the in one in the previous episode that if you lose sight of your why meaningful work will start to feel meaningless. And I was I was about to risk it this week. I was I was risking to fall into that category uh this particular week for this uh for this uh production and this release. So yeah, social media trains us to equate visibility with worth. So the more visible your content is or the more visible you are, the more worthy you are. Because I mean well I mean to to a certain extent it makes sense. The more visible you are, the more engaging your content is, the better performer are you. It is all an art of performance. Honestly, I mean the the the the the algorith the algorithms favor a certain type of performer. That's why certain content is doing better than other types of content. Like if if if we're going to if we're going to dilute everything is what I'm trying to say. If we're going to dilute everything to that level, then this makes complete sense. Makes complete and perfect sense honestly. And also again referencing start with why. Now if if your why is not strong enough it's not something deeply personal or deeply rooted to your personal identity. Your how is going to be very performative. Now it can be successfully performative and or yield additional successes or it can be a failure at the end of the day because you're going to get tired of performance. you're going to get tired of performing all the time because it's going to feel so fake. You know, some some people are still going to muster up the courage to continue performing, but to a certain extent, people will have enough and all of it is going to feel so meaningless and like the performance transcends so many domains and areas. Like for example, disobeying Allah subhanaa tala is a performance because ultimately if we were to dissect this you know the if we were if we were to dissect kufur if we were to dissect this belief in its entirety it's performance it's performative you know some performances are cool sometimes the performance of disobedience is cool or it fits a certain audience. So they keep up with that performance but that performance has a negative consequence which is a miserable life in one way or another as mentioned in the second to final page of surah. And whoever ignores my passages and my message and my revelation and my methodology and my instructions will have a pretty bitter miserable life. So again referencing back to the passage from uh atomic habits of the casting votes to the version of yourself that you want to become. Honestly, the best part the the the best version of yourself that you can become is a version that remembers Allah subhana wa ta'ala constantly and as often as they possibly can. That happens in your salah. That happens in your that happens in the the the honesty and authenticity behind sitting in in focus and remembering Allah and giving salawat to the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. This is this this this is the best version of yourself. Why? Because with the remembrance of Allah subhana wa ta'ala, there is a cascade of strong effects that can happen. Well, what what are they? Are are you giving us outdated cliches? Not really. I can I can reference that. For example, number one, most importantly, your heart finds rest. L verily in the remembrance of God do the hearts find rest. Your heart is content. Your heart is satisfied. Your heart is calm and peaceful. Now a calm and peaceful heart can help you do so many things. You know, instead of being constantly at stress or being bitter, remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala removes these obstacles from you. You're also going to be a more aware person. Like for example, there there is a theme in Alan chapter number three where Allah subhana wa ta'ala describes the winning individual and the winning collective. The theme of Ali Imran while it contains so many themes like for example if you start with um like the first page of Alan Allah subhana wa tala makes a or presents as a contrast so this contrast is of the ignorance versus knowledge so for example Allah subhana wa ta'ala says in the first page And I'm just going to summarize. Allahh talks about the the revelation that he sent down to the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam being the Quran. Now, if you were to read through the Quran and even read through the transliteration or the tap of the Quran, you're going to realize that there are certain passages or certain verses that are clearcuts. There are clearcuts. Let's say if you're reading the Arabic or you're reading the translation, this clear-cut, it's a clear ruling. It's a clear instruction. And it's a clear warning. This is these are clear passages, clear instructions, clear content and some well if I'm going to paraphrase requires further investigation or requires interpretation or require like requires so many more steps or more steps required to unlock the verse partially or fully most of the times partially. Now Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala talks about people who hold uh like how are they going to handle this particular contrast right there there there are going to be two types of people there's one type that is ignorance and has some sort of a corruption they will zone in and focus purely on the passages that are not not complete but not clear not fully clear or transparent on face value or surface value or surface level because usually ignorance ignorance is also very I'm not going to call it weak but I'm going to call it very fatigued like for example I mean look at the look look at look at look at all of these Islamophobes out there right that come in all different colors and shapes and sizes now most of the times and it's easy even for people who don't have much knowledge about Islam. They they they I mean they they they look at the hatred or they look at the the like the pseudo criticism and they say, "Ah, well look, this person is ignorant. This person didn't even bother to read the context. Sometimes the verse before even or even sometimes the word before in the very same verse tells you that ignorance is very fatigued. These people are very fatigued and very tired mentally tired like they don't have the mental capacity to read the verse before even it doesn't require a lot of effort honestly let alone investigating and you know juggling with different thoughts and different alternatives like no no people don't care about that people of that brand I mean so Again Allah references or mentions these kind this kind of person and then there's another kind of person those that acquire knowledge or those that are immersed in knowledge. People of knowledge say well you know what regardless of which we believe in this. Why? Because they have taken the steps they have they they ran the miles or they walked the miles and they spent the hours to arrive at the logical conclusion. You know after thinking and reflection and reading and revision that okay there there is an ultimate truth. Okay. If we can deduce or arrive at the conclusion that the ultimate truth is God and we can deduce the conclusion that God Almighty reveals the Quran then really it doesn't matter whatever limited creation and intellect and wisdom think and I'm I'm talking about humans as a whole by the way because only God has maximal uh perfection in his attributes among which intellect and wisdom. While whatever wisdom or intellect we may possess, it's limited. Creation is limited. It's dependent. God Almighty is independent. So hence maximally perfect. So knowing this and knowing the relationship between these points, the people of knowledge will say, "Hey, well, we we we got faith in this." So that's that's one uh contrast or like one comparison that Allahh presents in. Actually I wasn't even this is this wasn't even the topic of the of the of the episode. Anyway, I hope it brought some uh some knowledge to y'all. Um but also subhan Allah again like referencing the topic of who who really are you who are you really behind the closed doors is also Allah subhanana wa ta'ala uh again as he describes the this this theme of the winning party or the winning individual what are their characteristics uh there are two references here that I want to mention from the same surah the first one is Allah subhana wa ta'ala in the second page already makes another comparison. So first of all he says in the penultimate verse in the second page he says so this a longer verse where Allah subhana t says what has been beautified and what has been made apparently attractive or apparently calling for people and he mentions then all of these you know distractions uh um lusting after uh certain aspects of material life, women, rights, um rights back then and rights today because you know the Quran transcends time, status, offspring, money, like all of this right now. This is one part like the the these distractions in they're here and people are drawn to them. This is from the enjoyments of this life and then Allah comes the final verse of that very page. So again another comparison that Allah makes which is what people who are drawn to distractions which again we talked about it material gains and all of this but also at the same time there is the other distraction which is you know attention people like attention let's be honest even those who say they don't like attention well there the part of them does actually like the attention that's why human beings are performative so there is How about I tell you about the better thing? What is the better reward? And then he talks about the reward of paradise. The reward of eternal or the the eternal reward of paradise for those who truly believe to those who fear God Almighty are conscious of God's limitations and respect those limitations and adhere and abide by those limitations. And in the third page now the following page immediately after this particular verse with a verse in between. Well actually let's start let's start with the verse that comes directly after who are they? Who are the people who who get who get this abundant eternal reward? Who are they? Tell me. Those who say we believe, oh God, we believe, forgive our sins, protect us from eternal punishment. So Allah lists then the characteristics again. What? Okay. So now we know that these people believe and these people call out to God Almighty. Immediately after belief, he talks about it. He talks about remembrance of God. Okay. What are their characteristics? They're patient. First thing, patience. Well, to to to succeed with a journey, whatever the journey is, be it the the m a material journey or a spiritual spiritual journey, it requires patience. There is a wisdom as well behind you know being able to be discounted from fasting while you're in a know while you're traveling for physical traveling is is consuming your patience. Travels both physically and mentally and you know metaphorically they're all they're all requiring patience. Building a company requires patience. uh building a building a podcast like the lot of cup blueprint it requires pat like everything requires patience need to be patient with the process whatever the process may be and patience results in reward now the best form of patience is the patience that's for the sake of Allah subhana wa ta'ala in relation to worship why is this the best sort of patience because it yields the best reward ward ever paradise. And the former verse also says the best thing of everything is that God Almighty is pleased with you. Like what more do you want? And the other verse that I wanted to reference is the penultimate page of uh surah al same chapter uh where Allah subhana wa ta'ala makes another comparison which is between those who do not remember Allahh or are not in frequent remembrance of God and those who are in frequent remembrance of God. Now in vikar with the remembrance of God Almighty is something that is highly encouraged to do in your private time in seclusion because ultimately the in seclusion this is your you are your true self in seclusion. You are your true self in in terms of what you do in private it's one way to put on this performative prayer show in the masid and it's another to pray on time at home. You know this is just about time. This is just about praying. Now let's talk about the quality of prayer. My goodness, we're going to a very a very deep tangent here. But let's continue. Uh seriously, you know, like some many people sub and I'm talking to myself first by the I'm not I'm not talking to you the listener whoever you may be uh brother/sister I'm talking to myself by the way you know in the mah in the masid let's say you're leading the prayer even sometimes you know this is when you like put on this soothing recitation or attempting to put on a soothing recitation and then when you're here you just just just finish up the prayers be quick be done with it you as if it's a chore or treat it as a chore because yeah when you who you are at home this is who who your true self really is. So I will end with this statement something that I mentioned before as well a couple of times the second hadith in the 14 collection the hadith that was narrated by where he mentions the interaction between the archangel Gabriel am and the prophetat wasallam the archangel Gabriel was asking the prophet many questions. Firstly about Islam or what is the concept of submission? Secondly about im what is the concept and what are the tenants of faith and then what isanan what is excellence because we have to strive for excellence guys remember we want to become if we want to become the best version of ourselves because remember this is this is why you're listening to the baraka blueprint right this is the reason to become the best version of yourself so what is excellence And the prophet was answers by saying now this composition if we really understand it this is where the secret is. So let me tell you what is that secret. You worship God Almighty as though you see him. You know if because even though you don't see him remember that he sees you. The first part about worshiping God as though you see him because think about it this way we we naturally become or like lean towards performance when we know that people see us. Listen, this is applicable regardless. Seriously, that's why you're extra careful in the job interview. You're careful that you don't say the wrong thing or you're extra careful in front of that new friend, you know, and then when when you guys are old friends, you roast each other. But before that, you're careful. Sorry, I didn't mean to. I hope you don't take this the wrong way. Like, it's performance. Honestly, it is performance, right? Really, this is performance. Worship God Almighty as though you see him. Okay? When you see that someone is that someone sees you, when you see that someone sees you, performance kicks in, you ask yourself, hey, am I doing this the right way? Am I saying the right thing? Is this going to look well? Is this going to sound well? Second part of the statement is the reality check is that hey first of all even though you don't see him and you won't okay you can't see the creator that's it this is this this is the limitation that you have been given you don't get to see the creator that's it but the reality check strikes that even though there is a limitation for yourself where you cannot see the creator the creator can see you. So to frequently have that mindset, remember that Allah subhana wa ta'ala sees everything. Even the thoughts that you're not displaying those inner thoughts that you have, God sees that as well. That is excellence, my dear listener. That is excellence. Excellence. The best thing, the cream of the crop is to remember that God sees everything and God Almighty is just, he is the definition of justice. So if your true self meaning the person you are in private is the person who is perfecting meaning that you constantly purify whatever insert concept or insert thing you consistently go through that purification don't have to be perfect now nobody is but you you consistently go through that purification journey or that development journey at intellectually, mentally, psychologically, physically, whatever. You put in the work that is needed. You're casting those votes to the version of yourself that you want to become. Equally in public as in private, Allah subhana wa ta'ala, the maximally perfect injustice, will award and reward you accordingly. This is the key takeaway of this episode, honestly. So, I think there's no better way to end it than with this note. I don't think I could say it any better. So, I'll save you the time. I'll thank you very very much. Thank you, whoever is listening to this, brother, sister, whoever. Thank you. Thank you for taking the time to listen to this episode of the Baraka Blueprint podcast. Now, if you like what you're hearing and if you want to see more of this podcast, follow me on Spotify, on my socials that are linked in the description. Subscribe to my YouTube to see more. Tell me in the comments, guys. Tell Tell me what you think. Tell me what you want to see more of. Tell me what you uh tell me what you're missing from this podcast. You can comment everywhere. Literally, if you're listening to this on Spotify, that means you can comment on Spotify as well. Listen, if you're watching this on YouTube, then you can comment there. Reach out to me as well in my DMs. I I answer my DMs and uh let me know what I'm doing that is good so I can continue and improve and work on it even better or what you're missing. Is there something that I'm doing that is wrong? Is there something that I'm saying that is wrong? And I and I said this before as well. Uh my I work my brand I want to work with full transparency. Not that it is unique. There are many honest transparent brothers and sister sisters Allah doing their brand and their like creating their content. So I'm definitely not the only one that is trying to do this. But what I'm trying to say is I try to have this open door policy because even like even for selfish reasons if I'm going to be honest I want to create the best possible content out there. So it means that I want to have the best possible value I can get from anyone I'm involved with or that I'm engaged with including you my dear listener. So whatever you have to say to me I would really appreciate it in advance and I want to thank you in advance. So before I let you go, firstly, uh if you want to see more of this, but in writing as well, uh I do actually have a free 5-day blueprint that I want to give to you at startyouhra.com, also linked in the show notes and in the description. I'll send you five consecutive days of lessons and wisdom that you can start to implement today for your hijra journey. And this is strictly taken from steps that I have taken myself. And secondly, I have a school community that for now is for free where I share my process and my journey uh to even recently we were going through the brand building exercises where I was showing my school community exactly step by step how I build brands that people pay uh tens and thousands of dollars if not even more for the entire creative journey to create an outstanding brand. This is strictly a UIUX graphic design uh type of work and I share my other skill set in project management as well with my resources and even an AI prompt library from readym made or bumps that I made for you that you can start to use with your AI tool of choice to build your brands and to build your products and to build your stores and to build your companies. I even show in that very same AI prompt library what I have what I have built with this particular brand that I'm recommending people to use so that you see that this is not just a blind recommendation. It's something that I have actually tried and tested and I've been able to produce something. So that is the HR hackers school community. You can find the link in the show notes in the description as well. Or if like for whatever reason you're in school while you're listening to this episode. I don't think anyone is or maybe there's that one person who's doing that, you know. Yeah, you literally have no idea. Imagine if there is one person who does that and that person freaks out and says, "How did he know?" And then he's going to write down in the whatever. Anyway, Hijra hackers on school. If you want to do this the the long way, if you if you if you're the kind of person who like itches their ear on the any the other side, then sure, go to school, write HRA hackers, and then check if it's the right one and then request to join or yeah, just click the link in the description. I mean, it's it's it's over. So that being said, thank you very very very much for tuning in to the Baraka Blueprint podcast. Again, this is I think this is the second time trying to end the episode. I'm finding a theme where I don't know how to end an episode. In the past, I think two episodes now, two consecutive episodes, I don't know how to end them. So I'll end by saying this. If there's anything that I said that has been of value, this is not for me. Okay, this was only made possible by Allah subhana wa ta'ala and it's from the wisdom that is taught to us by the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. Now whatever I said that is wrong that is incorrect it's either from my own whims and desires or it's from the whispers of shaitan because this message this pure message of Islam is completely free from any whims and desires and mistakes for myself and also if you found any benefit in this only thing I'm going to ask you for is I would really appreciate appreciate your support with a like, a subscription, or turning on the bell notification as well to be notified for when the next episode or video is released. And remember, until the next time, stay focused, purify, and elevate and continue to grow in every single aspect and domain of your life. And remember to do that in Baraka style. And until next time, assalamu alaykum.