Come to Success Whenever we hear the adhan (call to prayer), there is a part where the mu’adhin calls out, 'حي على الصلاة' hay ‘ala as-salaah (come to prayer). Then he says, 'حي على الفلاح'- hay ‘ala al-falaah.' Does anyone know what hay ‘ala as-salaah, hay ala al-falaah means? It means come to prayer, come to success. Is that how we usually think of success? What’s your definition of success? Yes, sometimes we think having a good job, a nice house, a loving family are the measurements of our success. There may be some truth to that for this world- but how does Allah ﷻ measure our success? Do you know that there is a surah in the Qur’an called, 'The Believers,' (Al- Mu’minun) and Allah promises that the believers will be successful? He says: 'Indeed, the believers have attained success,' (Surat al-Mu’minun, aya 1). Let’s dig a little deeper into the Arabic word for success- فلاح (falaah). Do you know that a derivative of that word فَلَّاح (fallaah) means a farmer? What are some of the things that a farmer needs to do everyday? Farmers need to fertilize their soil, plant seeds, pull out weeds, protect their plants from predators, water their crops. Do you think that’s a lot of work? Do you think it’s easy to be a farmer? I want you to imagine a time when farmers couldn’t turn on a hose to water their plants. They completely relied on rain to irrigate their crops. So, they could do all of this hard work, but if there was a drought, their crops wouldn’t be able to survive. To be a farmer requires a deep sense of تَوَكُّل, tawakkul (reliance on Allah). Part of success is hard work and a big part is also knowing that nothing happens without the will of Allah ﷻ. That’s why when the muadhin tells us to come to prayer and to come to success, we respond by saying, لا حَوْلَ وَلا قُوَّةَ إِلا بِالله 'There is no power nor strength except by Allah.' We could only come to prayer and we can only achieve success if Allah wills it. The only thing in our control is the amount of effort we exert in the process. So, let’s be farmers- let’s try our best to plant good seeds, water them, nourish them, and pray that Allah ﷻ, places baraka (blessings) in our efforts!