Never give up!

Assalamu alaykum folks. A very important message on the topic of despair which is giving up. Okay. And how that cannot be an option in the believing psyche. Okay. Let's take a question. [snorts] Salami. Hope you're well. Please keep my name anonymous.

Good thing I don't share it. I've been watching your videos for about three years now. Bit about me. My parents moved here to Germany from Pakistan. I'm raised here. I'm 29. I've been struggling with life. I've had a drug addiction for some years. Then with pandemic, I felt even more sad, depressed.

When I take drugs, I feel better, but after I feel worse. Is this all life is? I don't know what to do. So firstly, uh may Allah make things easy for you and for anyone who's struggling with such circumstances. Amen. Despair, which is giving up. Yeah.

When we think of this topic, we're straight away hit with a verse of the Quran that oh people who've transgressed, people who've done maybe some horrible things or whatever, if they turn to the mercy of Allah, never should they despair from Allah's mercy.

Never. And there's another incredible uh verse from Surah Ysef that comes to mind and this one's uh very interesting from a different angle that do not despair from the of which is the merciful help of Allah.

I mean look it raises a question that can a believer even despair from the from this merciful help of Allah can that even happen it's like raising a question that wow you see we have to people that that that are in these difficulties they seem surrounded they seem like, "Yeah, I can't see the horizon.

I can't see through this fog." This word here, check this out. This word, yeah, it comes from the same root as which means wind or that kind of breeze, that cool. See, it's it's a hot day. All of a sudden, there's a cool breeze. Can you see it?

Can you see its direction? Do you know where it's coming from? Do you you do you know it's about to happen but then all of a sudden you see and that's the of Allah that you have all of a sudden that Allah will and this this is an interesting verse because it's in that whoever depends relies on Allah provide him whether it's risk whether it's help whether it's mercy that the person he he couldn't even

imagine that this is uh where it will come from. Speaking of giving up, there's a a documentary I watched. It's about a suicide prevention activist, Kevin Hines. Yeah. So he um he goes around gives seminars preventing suicide but his own story is he himself attempted suicide. So he jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge in California and just as he he says just as he let go he realized what an incredible mistake this is just

as he one second after. Oh yeah too late. No, no, no. But just as he he says as I let go a split second I realized damn this is not what I want to do that you know you you have he says [laughter] he says that you know you know with the beloved it's a love story and so he says

at that time the gave the he says that what a time for him to remember God but he did but he did so this person he lands he's in this water he's struggling he's shouting screaming he's asking for people to help and people are calling for the coast guards and he can't feel his legs he's trying to swim across he's uh you know carrying his weight he's sinking he's and he says that all of a sudden I saw uh some kind of he says I saw a a black uh object circling me and I thought damn sharks.

[laughter] So he says, I started to hit the sharks and I started to I was freaking out, screaming and and it wasn't a shark. It was a sea lion that had actually what it was cir and it was keeping him afloat until the coast guards came. Allah, you see, think of it like this.

Yeah. You've got feelings, you've got your mindset, and you've got your actions. Okay? Like feelings, uh, mindset, action, fam. Yeah. Now, you want to change your feelings because you're thinking, look, life, so I can't take it. I can't, you know, and all of these are connected. So, you you're finding it difficult to be able to change your feelings immediately, but you can change the other two.

You see, you can change your actions and your mindset. Drug addiction, get help. Start start you. There's plenty. Get into rehab. Change your circle of friends. Keep yourself busy. Pursue a hobby. Volunteer for something. The mindset are is your in your mindset, in your story, do you see yourself? Oh, I you know, I've I've failed.

I'm this person. Oh, life. I'm just depressed. I'm just, you know, I've given up. I'm somebody who's given up. I'm g Well, if that's who you believe you are, then that's who you are. See, change that. Why do you have to think that you think of this could just be a colorful chapter in your story? Now, you're going to say, well, oh, Miy, that's that's hard. That's difficult.

You know, changing that kind just changing this mindset. It is. It is hard. Yeah. [laughter] Of course. Yeah, it's hard. But so is despair hard. So is is depression. That's pretty difficult as well. [laughter] So is being miserable. That's bloody pretty hard as well. So yes, it's hard. But it's it's your story if you want to change it.

I mean, you you've got a choice. [laughter] It's hard. It's hard. It's difficult. [laughter] You're not going to You got to You see, you don't know how many lives you may go on to make a difference to. You just don't know how that I mean, how for all you know, let's say in years, decades to come, you're sitting there, [laughter] granddad, telling your grandchildren this, it happens.

You see don't worry don't you know there was a a period in my life that this chapter in my life there's uh I'll leave you with a poem of jigarabi he says that [laughter] that yeah it's true that you know being in the in the flower gardens and these things that this is amazing being In that he saysah

Allah Allah he says but life is that which is spent amongst the thorns you know there's ups there's downs there's um what does say in that movie you know you take this restlessness in your heart and you carry it and that that shows you're alive. There's ups, there's downs, but it makes a hell of a story.

Well, I'll leave you with that, people.