Quotes from Hamza Yusuf

Everyone's a believer when things are going fine. The real faith is when one becomes patient with tribulations.

Hypocrisy is wretched because the hypocrite says with his tongue what is not in his heart. He wrongs his tongue and oppresses his heart. But if the heart is sound, the condition of the tongue follows suit. We are commanded to be upright in speech, which is a gauge of the heart's state.

We live in the age of Noah (a.s.) in the sense that a flood of distraction accosts us. It is a slow and subtle drowning. For those who notice it, they engage in the remembrance of God. The rites of worship and devotion to God's remembrance (dhikr) are planks of the ark. When Noah (a.s.) started to build his ark, his people mocked him and considered him a fool. But he kept building. He knew what was coming. And we know too.

Language is the crowning achievement of human beings, and that is something Muslims have always known and revered. We are a literate people whose miracle is a Book from an unlettered man, peace and blessings be upon him, who was the most articulate and eloquent human being who ever lived. We honor our Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, in honoring language that he loved so much and used so well.

Without discipline, Religion would be impossible

The cure for hatred is straightforward. One should pray for the person toward whom he feels hatred; make specific supplication mentioning this person by name, asking God to give this person good things in this life and the next. When one does this with sincerity, hearts mend. If one truly wants to purify his or her heart and root out disease, there must be total sincerity and conviction that these cures are effective..

Reality of things is hidden in the realm of the unseen

Everybody wants to change the world yet no one wants to change themselves.

I've had thousands of problems in my life. Most of which never actually happened.

The heart also needs to breathe, and the breath of the heart is none other than the remembrance of God.

None of you has achieved faith until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.

anything that we see in creation is due to reflected light. And all light comes from God.

When the Prophet says "brother," we should interpret this as universal brotherhood, which includes Muslims and non-Muslims.

if we want to change our world, we do not begin by rectifying the outward. Instead, we must change the condition of our inward.

Whoever has not thanked people, has not thanked God," said the Prophet Muhammad

The Prophet said, "Contentment is a treasure that is never exhausted.

People say to you, 'you've changed', or something like that. Well, I hope, for the sake of God, that I have changed, because I don't want to be the same person all my life. I want to be growing, I want to be expanding. I want to be changing. Because animate things change, inanimate things don't change. Dead things don't change. And the heart should be alive, it should be changing, it should be moving, it should be growing and its knowledge should be expanding.

Meanwhile, life passes on and time runs out. The culture of wanting more simply for the sake of more can occupy a person for an entire lifetime. But in the end, life is over. It terminates for the beggar and the affluent just the same, whether one is old or young, rich or poor, happy or sad.

It is a privilege to be in a position to offer charity and an honor to fulfill a divine obligation.

Somewhere on earth there is a door reserved for each soul, and one day each of us will walk through that door never to return to this life again. Where that door is and when we will walk through it are unknowns we must live with and prepare for. Upon death, all of this -- this whole world and all of its charms and occupations -- will become as if it were all a dream.

The cure for hatred is straightforward. One should pray for the person toward whom he feels hatred, making specific supplications that mention this person by name, asking God to give this person good things in this life and the next.

The Prophet said that whoever recites everyday the chapter of the Qur'an called al-W?qi?ah (QUR'AN, 56) will be protected from financial calamity.

Thinking about the weaknesses or faults of others is forbidden, whether they are present or not. The Prophet said, "There is a tree in Paradise reserved for one whose own faults preoccupied him from considering the faults of others.

The Prophet supplicated that God, the Exalted, show him things in their reality, distinguished and clear: "Show me the truth as truth and give me the ability to follow it; and show me falsehood as falsehood and give me the ability to avoid it.