1 00:00:00,400 --> 00:00:07,400 How many are the wishes a person harbors, desiring to see them fulfilled, 2 00:00:07,400 --> 00:00:13,400 while making no effort toward them and taking no steps to reach them, merely wishing. 3 00:00:13,400 --> 00:00:16,399 This is among the things that corrupt the heart and distract it. 4 00:00:16,399 --> 00:00:18,399 Allah the Exalted says: 5 00:00:18,399 --> 00:00:28,739 "Let them eat and enjoy themselves, and let [false] hope divert them; for they are going to know." 6 00:00:28,739 --> 00:00:32,740 Embarking upon the sea of wishful thinking is a great risk, 7 00:00:32,740 --> 00:00:35,740 for this sea has no shore. 8 00:00:35,740 --> 00:00:39,740 It is the sea upon which the bankrupt of this world sail, 9 00:00:39,740 --> 00:00:40,740 as it has been said: 10 00:00:40,740 --> 00:00:44,740 "If you spend your night wishing, feeling content, 11 00:00:44,740 --> 00:00:49,100 know that wishes are the capital of the bankrupt." 12 00:00:49,100 --> 00:00:52,100 Thus, the waves of false hopes continue, 13 00:00:52,100 --> 00:00:54,100 along with vain fantasies, 14 00:00:54,100 --> 00:00:59,100 to toy with the one who sails them, just as dogs toy with a carcass. 15 00:00:59,100 --> 00:01:05,189 It is the merchandise of every weak soul that lives on illusions and imagination, 16 00:01:05,189 --> 00:01:10,349 possessing no ambition to attain truths and realities, 17 00:01:10,349 --> 00:01:13,349 but rather having become accustomed to mental wishful thinking instead. 18 00:01:13,349 --> 00:01:16,420 Everyone is according to their own state; 19 00:01:16,420 --> 00:01:19,420 one wishes for wealth and authority, 20 00:01:19,420 --> 00:01:23,420 while another is a wisher for desires and pleasures. 21 00:01:23,420 --> 00:01:27,420 Yet the worldly life gives to those who deserve it and those who do not, 22 00:01:27,420 --> 00:01:30,609 and everyone is swimming in the sea of wishful thinking. 23 00:01:30,609 --> 00:01:34,609 While he is in this state, he suddenly awakens, 24 00:01:34,609 --> 00:01:37,609 only to find his hand grasping nothing but the reed mat. 25 00:01:37,609 --> 00:01:41,700 He has neither attained wealth nor reached glory. 26 00:01:41,700 --> 00:01:44,859 As for the person of high ambition, 27 00:01:44,859 --> 00:01:47,859 his wishes are grounded and near at hand, 28 00:01:47,859 --> 00:01:50,859 for he strives to realize them through knowledge and faith, 29 00:01:50,859 --> 00:01:53,859 and the deeds that draw him closer to Allah. 30 00:01:53,859 --> 00:01:57,859 His wishes are faith, light, and wisdom, 31 00:01:57,859 --> 00:02:00,859 and he is attached to Allah 32 00:02:00,859 --> 00:02:04,859 at the very time when others have attached themselves to things other than Him. 33 00:02:04,859 --> 00:02:09,120 Indeed, among the greatest corruptors of the heart, absolutely, 34 00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:12,120 is for a person to wish without action. 35 00:02:12,120 --> 00:02:15,120 He neither attains his portion from Allah, 36 00:02:15,120 --> 00:02:20,120 nor does he reach what he hoped for from those he attached himself to. 37 00:02:20,120 --> 00:02:23,280 The likeness of one who attaches himself to other than Allah 38 00:02:23,280 --> 00:02:26,280 is like one seeking shade from the heat and the cold 39 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:28,280 in a spider's web, 40 00:02:28,280 --> 00:02:30,280 which is the frailest of homes. 41 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:33,280 So, you who sail upon the sea of wishful thinking, 42 00:02:33,280 --> 00:02:35,280 what have you reaped? 43 00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:38,280 And what has been realized for you 44 00:02:38,280 --> 00:02:41,280 other than a mirage and a straying from the path? 45 00:02:41,280 --> 00:02:45,569 Return to reality and hold fast to every thread, 46 00:02:45,569 --> 00:02:48,569 and transform hope into reality 47 00:02:48,569 --> 00:02:51,569 through work, diligence, and struggle, 48 00:02:51,569 --> 00:02:53,569 and by attaching yourself to Allah the Exalted, 49 00:02:53,569 --> 00:02:55,569 seeking His aid, 50 00:02:55,569 --> 00:02:58,569 and taking hold of all the necessary means. 51 00:02:58,569 --> 00:03:03,569 For these are the matters that make wishing legitimate and acceptable. 52 00:03:03,569 --> 00:03:05,569 From here the path begins, 53 00:03:05,569 --> 00:03:08,569 and from here the journey sets forth.