DRAWING CLOSER TO ALLAH, ONE DOUA AT A TIME
I’ve always loved the Nike slogan, “Just Do It.” It is simple. Concise. To the point. Action filled. Commandative. Commandative. I just made up that word. It means command driven. Does it make sense? I think so.
“Just Do It,” is the antidote (Big word, I know! I had to make sure I was using it properly before using it here, lol.) to laziness, procrastination, and my all time favorite talking. We talk to make plans, to discuss issues and problems, the latest easy to make recipe you made, the newest gadget, the latest game, the people that are behind the issues and problems you mentioned earlier, the latest YouTube star, the latest Tasty video recipe . . . the list goes on and on.
If we were to actually track the amount of time we spend talking to friends, family, co-workers and fellow community members, how much time would that amount to? A few minutes or a couple of hours? Or a couple of hours everyday? What have you gained at the end of all of that talking? Usually . . . nothing.
There was this famous quote I learned some time back:
Small minds discuss people.
Average minds discuss events.
Great minds discuss ideas.
I remember thinking at the time, “Oh my gosh, me and my friends only discuss people and events, what ideas will we discuss?” Recently, I found a more refined version (from this blog article), which says:
Hurting minds discuss people.
Distracted minds discuss events.
Engaged minds illustrate ideas.
And I couldn’t agree more. My ears ache from all of the talking that is done in the community about people and events when that same amount of time and energy could have been put into discussing ideas to help those same people and avoid the same events/issues from happening. If we discuss the issues long enough, our minds may think we are finding a solution to the issue, when in reality, we are not. We are just adding more details to the stories we are saying (and Allah knows if those details and stories are true or not!).
Most of the time, talking gets us no where. We talk, we discuss, we find out what happened, then we do nothing. How do we break this cycle and become people of action, as is commendable in the Qur’an?
“Whoever works righteousness, whether male or female, while he (or she) is a true believer verily, to him We will give a good life, and We shall pay them certainly a reward in proportion to the best of what they used to do (i.e. Paradise in the Hereafter).” — Qur’an, Surat Al Nahl, verse 97
Here are 3 tips to take action and “Just Do It,” when engaging in conversations:
“He who believes in Allah and the Last Day must either speak good or remain silent.”[Related by Muslim].
In this hadeeth, the Prophet (saws) gives two options for speech:
Keep this hadeeth in the forefront of your mind whenever you engage in conversation. Don’t allow your time to be spent in useless speech that won’t benefit those you are discussing or benefit you on the Day of Judgement. Don’t ever belittle the action you plan to take, Allah (swt) tells us in the Qur’an:
“So their Lord accepted of them (their supplication and answered them), “Never will I allow to be lost the work of any of you, be he male or female. You are (members) one of another . . .” — Qur’an, Surat Al Imran, verse 195
Make every deed count and make every conversation count.