16th Muharram 1448H |
Assalamu'alaikum, |
I'm sure you've come across the photos of Muslim players dropping into sujood the moment they scored or won a game during the World Cup. |
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Whether you're a die-hard football fan or couldn't-care-less about the World Cup, you have to admire seeing an unapologetically Islamic way of expressing joy that is God-centred and humble, instead of the usual fist-pumping, chest-thumping, ego-centred expressions we often see. |
Expressing joy through sujood was taught to us by Prophet Muhammad ﷺ: “When anything came to the Prophet ﷺ which caused pleasure (or, by which he was made glad), he prostrated himself in gratitude to Allah.” (Sunan Abi Dawud). 1400 years later, we see that same expression televised live for the world to see. |
It made me wonder: what if we borrowed that reflex and brought it into our own moments of success? |
Imagine doing sujood when you deliver a project on time, or the promotion comes through, or the deal you'd been chasing for months lands in your inbox. How much of the ego that fills our workplaces would quietly drain away if we tamed our joy with sujood? |
Imagine, as a leader, opening your team's annual review not with the numbers, but with a sincere word of hamd (praise) to Allah for the year He allowed. |
Imagine, as a mother or father, marking your son's graduation or your daughter's success not only with cake and a party, but with an Umrah trip. |
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ taught us to channel the thrill of happiness into worship, instead of letting the exhilaration of the moment feed our ego and make us forget WHO gave us the blessing in the first place. |
When we express joy with sujood, or any act of worship, we tame the nafs before it grows proud, gloats, or forgets that we are slaves of Allah. It also reminds us that had He willed, none of this success would have reached us at all. ‘...My success comes only through Allah…” (Quran 11:88). |
Islam wants us to live balanced lives and not overreach in our moments of joy or our moments of grief – so that sorrow never tips into despair, and happiness never swells into pride. Allah says in the Qur'an: |
لِّكَيْلَا تَأْسَوْا۟ عَلَىٰ مَا فَاتَكُمْ وَلَا تَفْرَحُوا۟ بِمَآ ءَاتَىٰكُمْ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ كُلَّ مُخْتَالٍۢ فَخُورٍ ˹We let you know this˺ so that you neither grieve over what you have missed nor boast over what He has granted you. For Allah does not like whoever is arrogant, boastful’ (Surah Al-Hadid, 57:23) |
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So thank you to our Muslim World Cup players, for teaching the world what sujood is, and for showing, on the biggest stage, that a Muslim's first instinct in a moment of joy is to humble themselves before God. |
What's your first instinct? |
Sincerely, |
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