True success is trustworthiness and halal income
“You have everything if you have these four qualities, if you are trustworthy, if you are truthful, if you have good manners, and if you have a halal income.”
Modern FOMO is cured by measuring success through trustworthiness, truthfulness, good manners, and halal income rather than worldly possessions or status.
The khutbah in 8 steps
- Opens with duas for sick community members and deceased relatives.
- Urges listeners to tell the truth even when it opposes family or personal interests, and to practice patience.
- Contrasts worldly rewards for ruthlessness with Allah’s love of gentleness, kindness, and integrity.
- Uses the story of an honest garden guardian, linking his character to the scholar Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak.
- Defines halal income as avoiding waste, riba, and haram commerce, even when society considers such choices less successful.
- Presents trustworthiness, truthfulness, good manners, and halal income as the qualities that mean a person has not missed out.
- Warns that haram income harms families and can hinder supplication, while provision is decreed but earning methods remain a choice.
- Concludes with supplications, prayer, and a brief appeal to support the masjid.
In the khateeb's words
“You have everything if you have these four qualities, if you are trustworthy, if you are truthful, if you have good manners, and if you have a halal income.”
“He knows that alcohol is haram. He knows that lottery is haram. He knows that bacon is haram. He knows that cigarettes is haram.”
“It is up to me how to earn it. Halal, haram, gift, inheritance.”
For the dinner table
The khateeb reminds us that having what other people have is not the measure of a successful life. He highlights four qualities: being trustworthy, being truthful, having good manners, and earning halal income. He encourages us to stay gentle and honest, even when doing so costs us something we want. The garden worker’s story shows what it looks like to respect a responsibility without taking something we were never given permission to use. We can practice these lessons together by keeping our promises, speaking truthfully with kindness, avoiding wasted food, and caring about how we earn our money.
- When you want something because someone else has it, what helps you appreciate what you already have?
- What is one way you could show trustworthiness at home or school tomorrow?
- How could we waste less food at our next family meal?
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