In the Name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful
ِAll praises are due to Allah and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, his family, companions and those who follow him well until Judgement Day.
Dear brothers and sisters, know that, one of the things we constantly try to do is to be a better and successful person. That’s because we know that being a better version of ourselves will help them be more successful in life.
In today’s Khutbah (sermon), In Shaa Allah I’ll take about twenty tips that will help you be a better and successful person. They don’t have to be in the following order of course. And you might not be able to achieve all of these tips but it’s good for you to try. You won’t regret a thing, trust me! And don’t worry if it takes you some time to carry them out. You’ll be able to accomplish new ones as time passes In Shaa Allah.
Dear brothers and sisters, let’s start!
• Have the will to change
Allah won’t change you unless you decide to change. That’s why you need to be willing to change and actually put some thought and effort into the idea because when there’s a will there’s a way In Shaa Allah.
• Stop making excuses
You can’t expect to change if you keep making excuses for anything that goes wrong with you, because you won’t see anything that needs to be changed with you that way. You should take accountability for your actions and take responsibility for your decisions. You shouldn’t blame anyone or anything for your mistakes and failings. Instead, try to learn from your mistakes, which in turn will help you be a better and successful person.
• Stop being angry
If you let yourself be angry, your anger will modify your decision-making ability and you’ll start making decisions that aren’t very rational. Anger is also known for damaging relationships and negatively affects one’s health. So, if you let it overtake you, it’ll prevent you from improving yourself. It might even get you into trouble. I know, controlling anger is a difficult task, but if you try your best to do so you will benefit from great rewards.
• Be more self-aware
In order to become a better and successful person, you should learn to notice yourself and know how you behave in different situations. Then you’ll know when to improve yourself if you do something improperly, and continue to do what you’re doing right. This point is very important because you can’t be a better and successful person if you don’t know what you should improve of yourself in the first place.
• Love yourself
When you love yourself, you’ll want what’s best for it. Thus, you’ll look for whatever can make it comfortable and content. Learn to accept yourself for who you are and only then will you be able to enhance it and feel better. Tell yourself that you’re kind and compassionate, that you’re worthy and important, anything that would make you feel loved and accepted by yourself. You should start by loving yourself because you won’t be able to love other people if you don’t love yourself first.
• Set goals for yourself
Every person should have a certain aims and goals in life. After all, we were brought into this life for a reason; build this world and work for the hereafter. For that reason, you should set goals and objectives for yourself to conquer. Write them down in a note on your phone or on a journal you keep at hand. Every time you accomplish a goal, you’ll objectively learn more about yourself and figure out ways of improvement In Shaa Allah.
• Be thankful and appreciative
Thank Allah for the countless blessings that He showers upon you each and every day, and appreciate what you have instead of obsessing over what you wish you had. Also thank people for whatever good they do to you and appreciate their thought and effort. Don’t be ungrateful (Butulu)!
• Be a role model
Being a role model to someone will encourage you to constantly strive for the better because you wouldn’t want to disappoint whoever is looking up to you. You will always find ways to improve yourself and be more careful on how you behave because you’ll always want to set a good example to others. Just like when parents want to be role models to their children, they’ll try their best to make decisions and take actions that their children will respect.
• Practice self-control
You should be able to balance between your work life and your life outside of work. This balance is necessary so that you don’t get bored if you only focus on work or if you just sit down and enjoy your pleasures. If you get bored, you won’t be satisfied, and hence, you won’t feel good about yourself. Remember, everything has its own time.
• Control your anger and jealousy
Anger and jealousy are very common human traits. But they are unpleasing and self-destructing if they get out of control. Again, you’ll be hurting yourself before others when you get angry at or jealous of someone, hence, being unhappy and dissatisfied. Try not to compare yourself to others and think they are better than you. Instead remember that there are so many people who are unfortunate and that you have better circumstances than them Alhamdulillah. That would help a lot.
Also, try not to get easily angered by anything, but if you do, try to forgive who ever angered you. This doesn’t mean that you’re weak and that it’ll be like nothing bad happened, on the contrary, what happened still happened but you’re strong enough to relieve yourself from the heavy weight that was keeping you down, now letting you heal.
• Forgive
When someone hurts you, try to forgive them. I know that might be hard but just try. If you don’t forgive them for whatever they did and hold that against them for the rest of your life, you’ll just be hurting yourself more because it’s unhealthy to hold a grudge. That would only affect your body, mind and soul negatively.
• Listen
It’s very important to listen to people. Sometimes when you listen carefully, you’ll learn things that you wouldn’t have known if you haven’t given an ear to it. Although people these days are always busy and in a rush, try to make some time to listen to others because wallahi it will definitely affect your life positively In Shaa Allah.
• Be honest
Being honest is one of the most important characteristics of a good, better and successful person. When you’re honest, you’ll feel better about yourself and people will trust you more because you won’t tell any lies, you won’t deceive anybody; you’d be straightforward. This way, you’ll feel comfortable about everything you say or do since you know that you’re not hiding anything and everything is clear and simple.
• Be helpful
Helping others is one of the best ways to make you a better and successful person. When you help someone in need you will feel self-content and satisfied by your achievement. You will realise that what you do is worth something to other people and that you are bringing about good deeds with your help In Shaa Allah.
• Do things that you usually don’t do
Sometimes, there are things that you normally wouldn’t think of doing. You just don’t want to take that risk. However, doing those things that you usually wouldn’t do would increase your chance of becoming a better and successful person because you’ll be challenging yourself to try something new, something you might have been scared of in the past. Be open-minded and try to get over your fears and doubts.
• Make people happy
Try to make the people you love, or any random person you might encounter in your day, happy. Make them smile. A very rewarding feeling is knowing that you made someone happy. Think of different creative ways that would impress someone every now and then. Wallahi you’ll feel very satisfied with yourself.
• Show people that you care about them
It’s nice to know that someone cares about you, don’t you think? Knowing that allows us to acknowledge that showing people that we care about them will make them feel happy, and hence, makes us happy. You can show that by exclusively telling them that “I care about you” but it’s more genuine to let them conclude that by your own actions toward them. Do something nice for them, help them with something they need to do, any small act would serve this purpose.
• Give to others
What you give to others is what truly remains with you because Allah will reward you more if you give than if you keep for yourself. In fact, when you give to other people, Allah will reward you in this life and the hereafter, and Allah will continue providing for you In Shaa Allah. It’s the kind of reward that will make you feel very gratified and fulfilled. So, give charity to the needy. It doesn’t have to be very big. Any small contribution will count.
• Explore your talents
Are you aware of a skill or talent that you excel at? If you are, put some effort on enhancing it. Do you think that you don’t have one? Well, everybody has something they’re good at. If you think that you’re not good at something in particular, you just haven’t found it yet. Explore your talents. Try to look for activities that you might be interested in and turn out being very skillful at. When you do find your talents, be sure to enrich and practice them. You might even earn a living by them.
• Do what you love
Even if you have a job that pays a lot of money, if you don’t love what you do, you won’t be happy. Who wants to spend their life in a job they hate? And even if you can’t always turn your hobby into your life career, you should at least make some time to practice it. Hence, you won’t feel that your life is empty if you don’t do what you love.
Respected servants of Allah, this is basically it! How many of these tips do you already fulfil in your life? How many do you not? Do you plan on becoming a better and successful person In Shaa Allah? Are there any other tips that you can add? Please send your thoughts and share this sermon if you liked it!
I Ask Allah Almighty to give you taufiq to learn, to show you anything is hidden, to make things easy for you, to teach you what you do not know.
I pray that Allah will bless everything that you do. I pray that you will grow intellectually and spiritually so that you can understand the problems of the world and where you fit into that world picture and I pray that all the fear that has ever been in your heart will be taken out… Ameen.
Inna lillahi wa inna Ilaihi Raaji’uun! Inna lillahi wa inna Ilaihi Raaji’uun!! Inna lillahi wa Inna Ilaihi Raaji’uun!!!
Allahu Akbar! I Condole the Nigeria Supreme Council For Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Supreme Council For Shari’ah in Nigeria (SCSN), the Muslims Ummah of Enugu State and the entire Nigerian Muslims Ummah on the death of Deputy Secretary General South-East, Imam Adam Idoko, an outspoken scholar who answered the call of Allah at the Medical Centre Abuja, on Wednesday, 14/10/2020.
I pray, may Allah forgive Sheikh Adam Idoko his shortcomings, sins and failings, and grant him Al-Jannatul Firdaus. May Allah grant the family in particular and the Ummah in general the fortitude to bear the irreparable and irreplaceable. May Allah make the uneasy easy for the Ummah and the entire family to bear this monumental trial of death. May Allah watch over the family he left behind and reunite us with him in Jannatul-Firdaus. May Allah make it easy for each and every one of us to strive hard in pleasing Allah before our destined period of death, ameen.
Lastly, I want you to remember that, life is a journey and becoming better and successful every day is the goal.
All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. May the peace, blessings and salutations of Allah be upon our noble Messenger, Muhammad, and upon his family, his Companions and his true and sincere followers.
Murtadha Muhammad Gusau is the Chief Imam of Nagazi-Uvete Jumu’ah and the late Alhaji Abdur-Rahman Okene’s Mosques, Okene, Kogi State, Nigeria. He can be reached via: [email protected] or +2348038289761.
This Jumu’ah Khutbah (Friday sermon) was prepared for delivery today, Friday, Safar 28, 1442 AH (October 16, 2020).
