Step by Step, Brick by Brick

And especially now, with the ummah — the state of the ummah — there is a problem in everything that we're doing. So there is good and bad in most of the things around us, or all of the things around us. We cannot change things radically, a hundred percent, in one day. It's just impossible; it won't happen. So we need to have a gradual change, that will take a while — but it's a step-by-step process. Sometimes we're in a hurry: we want a revolution that will change everything upside down, and suddenly tomorrow, in the morning at eight o'clock, we'll have khilāfah. It doesn't happen that way. It took the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) thirteen years; I guarantee you it will take us longer.

But the issue is that we need to build. We need to build. And it's a step-by-step process, and it's brick by brick. It's not a radical, sudden change. It is a long, long path. The path of Islam is long, and it needs a lot of patience — patience, patience. So we need to always deal with that mentality of being positive. If you can't change it all, change it a little bit. But always carry good with you, and be a key of good.

Because the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) says that Allah (swt) has some of His servants who are keys for good. That means that these people, wherever they go — when they leave, they leave good behind them. There are blessings following them wherever they go. And there are some people who are keys for evil, mafātīḥ li-l-sharr. These people, wherever they go, cause problems, and they leave evil. That's how their personality is: they just have a crooked personality that is going to cause problems wherever they go. And there are some people who would always leave good behind them, because they're always doing good. Wherever they go, they're going to make a change.

We need to deal with that perception: that this process of change is a step-by-step thing that will take a while, and it needs a lot of patience. In urīdu illā al-iṣlāḥa mā-staṭaʿt. This is the wisdom that we learn from Sayyidunā Shuʿayb (peace be upon him).