Leave The Excess Baggage

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

Even if we don't have billions or millions, we generally have a lot. If you can have 3 full meals a day, you have a lot. If you can dine out at least once a month, you have a lot. If you waste food, you have a lot. If you can add to your wardrobe every year, you have a lot. If you can afford not to wear all the clothes in your closet for more than a year or you have forgotten that you have such and such garment in your closet, you definitely have a lot!

Remember, this is not a place where we are going to be in it forever. This is a place that we are passing through. InshaAllah, out eternal abode will be Paradise.

"Be in this world as though you were a stranger or a wayfarer." (Bukhari)

We take from this world in order for it to be a provision for the next world. We take from this world to help us in obedience of Allah and for the pleasure of Allah. Anything you don't need to draw closer to Allah is excess baggage. It is something that you have to leave behind or it would slow you down on your journey to Allah.

Imagine you are in a middle of a revolution and you are ordered to leave the country to a safe place but you are only allowed to take a baggage weighing no more than 10 kg with you. You have to leave the rest of your belongings behind. Are you going to jump up and down and say "I have to bring my room or my house with me!" No, you wouldn't. You have to manage with such a little or they will leave you behind.

The self (nafs) has the ugliness of greediness and stinginess. And so we buy and we hoard things. We don't give or don't give enough. We should learn to curb our desires and practice to give everyday before Allah test us with what many people are facing around the world--poverty.

How much can you buy with less than 50 cents a day to feed your family? Perhaps a few pita bread. This is not an uncommon thing for many families to survive on this little where I am at.

May Allah make us means to help those in need for His sake. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam