Can you really purchase Jannah if you're trying to purchase your Jannah in this dunya? أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم الحمد لله رب العالمين ولا عدوان إلا على الظالمين والعاقبة للمتقين
اللهم صلِّ وسلِّم وبارك على عبدك ورسولك محمدٍ صلى الله عليه وسلم وعلى آله وصحبه وسلم تسليماً كثيراً We begin by praising Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and bearing witness that none has the right to be worshipped or unconditionally obeyed except for him.
And we bear witness that Muhammad (ﷺ) is his final messenger. We ask Allah to send his peace and blessings upon him, the prophets and messengers that came before him, his family and companions that served alongside him and those that follow in his blessed path until the day of judgment
and we ask Allah to make us amongst them. اللهم آمين Dear brothers and sisters, as we come across another Black Friday,
you know a lot of times when we talk about the isms that are the most dangerous and that are most contradictory to Islam, we leave out one of the most dangerous isms and that is consumerism.
And subhanAllah as you think about consumerism, you probably think well all it is is maybe splurging a bit, all it is is maybe going online and trying to find the best deal on the next product
and then having with the technological advances in this world the ability to just click a button and have it right at your door.
Maybe that's what you think about but there is a failure to calculate the dangers of consumerism as it relates to our spirituality and that's what I wanted to speak about today.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala uses the terms of buying and selling, of trade, to refer to our transaction that we have made with him in entering into Islam throughout the Quran.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala as he speaks about those who have purchased, أُولَٰئِكَ الَّذِينَ اشْتَرَوُا الضَّلَالَةَ بِالْهُدَىٰ There are those that have purchased misguidance using the currency of guidance and sometimes you have to visualize.
Imagine a person walking into the marketplace of this world and they purchase ضلالة, they purchase misguidance. And what do they purchase it with? Guidance. And you might think to yourself, well who actually does that?
Well, when a person goes to a place or puts themselves in a compromising situation and in the process they compromise their Islam and they instead have an intake of something other than al-Islam,
they are purchasing misguidance for guidance. And you see this, subhanAllah, especially where you will find people that will sell their religion for so cheap,
so cheap, they will sell their principles and in the process they will earn the displeasure of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and they will earn deprivation in this life. Allah azza wa jal mentions, والعذاب بالمغفرة
Those who take the forgiveness from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and they purchase the punishment of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala when they choose a sin intentionally and with a degree of intensity
that shows that there is a disregard for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala or when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions الحياة الدنيا بالآخرة There are those that purchase this world and what they put in that purchase,
what they enter as currency is everything that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has promised of Jannah. I think on the other hand when the Prophet (ﷺ) entered into Medina and they entered into a covenant with the Prophet (ﷺ)
recognizing that as they enter into this covenant of belief and as they enter into this covenant of protecting the Prophet (ﷺ) who is a refugee, who is on the run, who is a targeted and marked man
and in the process they are going to lose all notions of safety that they have in this life when they ask the Prophet (ﷺ) what they get back in return He said الجنة and they responded and said رَبِحَ الْبَيْعَ that it is a profitable transaction Allah azza wa jal says
إِنَّ اللَّهَ اشْتَرَىٰ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ أَنفُسَهُمْ وَأَمْوَالَهُم بِأَنَّ لَهُمُ الْجَنَّةَ Allah has purchased the believers, their selves and their wealth and as a result they have Jannah
So Allah uses these terms of trade constantly to say that we are in a transaction with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and a believer has to see themselves as trying to purchase more and more and more of Jannah
more and more of Allah's pleasure So think about it on the other side How do I purchase guidance? How do I purchase Allah's forgiveness? How do I purchase the Akhira instead?
What's the currency that is required so that I could purchase those things constantly and seek more and more and more because just like if you had unlimited wealth and you had no principles governing that you'd never run out of things to go buy online
and to Allah belongs the greatest example there is no shortage of real estate in Jannah and there is no shortage of currency to attain that real estate and to attain Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's pleasure
and Allah azza wa jal wants you to orient yourself in a different way towards where you are seeking more and more and more of what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has put in front of you
and this life where a person feels like I can purchase my happiness or I am entitled you'll find that many of those who speak about the philosophy of consumerism will say that there is an entitlement to gratification
I deserve by virtue of having this money I deserve to be treated in a certain way I deserve to have access to certain things and therefore I will purchase and buy and buy and buy and maybe I'm not thinking about what that could actually lead me to
and what harm that could actually cause to myself and to other than myself and subhanAllah you'll find that Allah azza wa jal uses the word israf wastefulness wastefulness in terms of extravagance of purchase and wastefulness in terms of sins
Allah azza wa jal mentions قُلْ يَا عِبَادِيَ الَّذِينَ أَسْرَفُوا عَلَىٰ أَنفُسِهِمْ لَا تَقْنَطُوا مِن رَّحْمَةِ اللَّهِ Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions that there is a notion of those who waste away in sin and in that process
they are extravagant with themselves and they are extravagant with the sins that have been put in front of them there is also a notion of the ethics of consumerism the ethics of what you purchase
and subhanAllah what you'll find is that there are unethical purchases and there are unethical pursuits of purchase what does that mean? you go and you tell someone to boycott something for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
right now there is the boycotting of the products that benefit the Zionist occupation of Palestine someone is like yeah but at the same time I'm going to have to sacrifice my comfort I'm going to have to sacrifice this drink that I really love
I'm going to have to sacrifice this thing that I really love watching I'm going to have to sacrifice this thing that I'm enjoying wearing whatever it may be and you think about the message that you are sending
clearly in that there is a diminishing of your spirituality in the process and if you want to get even bigger in terms of ethical consumerism think about the Uighurs and those that are being enslaved by the Chinese at this point
and what they're being put through and their slave factories to make the clothes that we wear and to put forth the items that we consume regularly if a person becomes accustomed to israf
if a person becomes accustomed to wastefulness and extravagance then they might find themselves in a situation where they just don't care anymore and in the process you are becoming a monster at the same time
so there is unethical purchase there is unethical pursuit and what you're going to do to reach those things and when we talk about the love of this world a person can find themselves in a situation
where if they fall in love with the dunya too much then what they're going to do is they're going to use everything that they have in front of them to reach that thing and so first it's an uncontrollable desire and then you know what? I really want this and so I'll engage in riba
I'll engage in interest and usury and what's the big deal if I engage in interest and usury because I really want this thing and you know what? It's okay there are other sins in Islam interest is not the only sin in Islam but then what that's going to lead to
once you've entered into this transaction of being willing to sell your principles to attain this thing what that's going to lead to is well, what if I have to cheat this person in order to get that? what if I have to rob this person?
what if I have to be a little bit dishonest and a little bit manipulative with this transaction so that I can get more and more and more and more and so the pursuit eventually becomes predatory as well and by the way the interest system is predatory as a whole
but let's put that to the side the pursuit becomes predatory and so initially your desires are getting the best of you you just want more and more and more of this dunya at some point though you're going to be willing to trample anyone
in the pursuit of what you want of more and more and more of this dunya now I want you to think about this narration it's narrated to the Prophet (ﷺ) and some of the ulama many of them in fact find a weakness in the chain
but every scholar will say that the meaning of this narration is indeed authentic حُبُّ الدُّنْيَا رَأْسُ كُلِّ خَطِيئَةٍ that the love of this world is at the heart of every single sin
that if you love the world too much then that is going to lead you to a path of destruction one way or the other it is at the root cause of every sinful disease that we have
it is at the root cause of every path away from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala loving this world too much and consumerism puts you in a situation to where you think that you can purchase your happiness
and as Muslims we learn that our happiness comes from enslaving ourselves to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and true liberation comes from engaging in that servitude of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and trying to gain more and more
and more of the good deeds that are ahead of us instead I want you to think about how far it can go in terms of changing yourself you know consumerism doesn't just turn you into an uncontrollable customer
or a customer who won't stop at anything consumerism also can teach you that purchasing a version of yourself is possible that you can remake yourself in a way that is completely in opposition
to what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala made you and how Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has determined your role in this earth and if you go down that path then you start to turn yourself into your own God and this is
أَرَأَيْتَ مَنِ اتَّخَذَ إِلَٰهَهُ هَوَاهُ do you see the person who has turned their desires into their God your idol actually becomes yourself and so do you means buy you means spend money
so that you can become the version of you that you want to be forget about everyone else in the process forget about the effect that's going to have on society forget about the effect that's going to have on your hereafter just keep on buying into
this remaking of yourself and in that process you are going to continue to forget Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala because you will make yourself the biggest pursuit of yourself and if you start to look at every single ism
that is out there that takes us away from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala at the root of it is the inflation of self it's not just the inflation of product it's the inflation of self you try to make yourself bigger than God you try to make yourself bigger
than God's purpose for you you try to make yourself bigger than law you try to make yourself bigger than anything else that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has prescribed and in that pursuit in that process you end up wrecking yourself
and wrecking everyone else coming back to how Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala treats this Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says redirect your pursuit Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala teaches you to redirect your sense of competition Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
directs you to this idea that by putting yourself in a place of being content with the blessings that Allah has given you and pursuing his higher reward that you will end up having the happiness that is sought
in everything else and more because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will fill the void in your heart that other people try to fill with products so we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to make us a people that are pleased with what he has given us
in this dunya and that are attached to the akhira and that are seeking more and more and more of the hereafter so that we do not become amongst those that are called or that are under أَلْهَاكُمُ التَّكَاثُرُ those that are ruined
by their pursuit of quantity we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to make us a people that seek the best of this life and the best of the next through pleasing him رَبَّنَا آتِنَا فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً وَفِي الْآخِرَةِ حَسَنَةً وَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ
اللهم آمين جزاكم الله خيرا والسلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته
