How Your Choices Rewrite Your Destiny - Ousama Alshurafa

Added: 2026-05-19

[00:00:00]Every decision you make opens [music] up a new book of destiny based on the choice you make.

[00:00:06]>> Every situation in [music] our life is a messenger from God, but you have to understand God's language to be able to decode that message. The entire universe is God's book, and Allah subhanahu [music] wa ta'ala speaks through signs, but you need basira to be able to understand what Allah is getting at.

[00:00:23]People think sometimes to a point we are just we're in this dunya abatha. Living in vain. Yes. This is a natural man.

[00:00:31]Everything happens for a reason. There are no coincidences.

[00:00:35]>> Nothing. Nothing. If we are reading the messages that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is sending for us every moment, there's something behind every key.

[00:00:44]Absolutely. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, "Sanurihim ayatina fil afaqi wa fi anfusihim hatta yatabayyana lahum annahul haqq." Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala speaks in signs. Who is the haqq? Allah. Allah, and Allah is one. So, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, remember he veiled his activity in this world through the dunya we asbab and means, but Allah delivers messages in this world through different situations.

[00:01:13]Typically, you expect a verbal type of message, maybe an email from someone.

[00:01:18]>> Study.

[00:01:19]Exactly. But, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, he speaks through situations, through occurrences, through circumstances in your life, but you have to understand the language of God.

[00:01:30]>> You know the verse, "Iqra bismi rabbika alladhi khalaq." Most people, when they're referring to this verse, they're talking about reading. They'll tell you reading is important. Allah talks about it in the Quran. That means knowledge is important, and read. But, it's bismi rabbika. The point I want to make is that the entire universe is God's book, and that's what he's talking about. You have to have the basira, the insight, the light to be able to understand what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is talking about through these various situations he sends you in life.

[00:02:05]Let's say, for example, I give you a book in, I don't know, Chinese. Do you read Chinese?

[00:02:09]>> No. No, you don't read Chinese. So, >> understand nothing. I'll look at it, it's all scrambled.

[00:02:13]>> Yeah, exactly. Just art on paper, right?

[00:02:16]Me, too.

[00:02:17]But, if I give you a book in Arabic, and I tell you now, what do you have? When you read it, you go beyond the words on the page to the meaning behind the words, and you're like, you know, if you've ever, when I'm reading sometimes, like any book, I'm thinking, what's the author, the mu'allif? That's how far you go because you understand it. You read it, you understand it, and you you'll take actions. That's the actions you're taking.

[00:02:42]>> Yes, but I'll also ask myself, what is he getting at?

[00:02:46]What's going to happen in the next chapter? Why did this scenario unfold in the book? What's the message that the author is intending through this? Why?

[00:02:55]Because I understand the language. And the language of the heart is this noor and basira. And when you have it, you'll be able to decode the various messages and through the signs that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is sending you in this life.

[00:03:10]>> Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala giving us all these signs through our day, so we can figure out where we going or what's going on? It's not just if you read Quran. It's not just if you pray. Every single thing that's happening on this earth is a message uh guiding you somewhere. One of the messages, Osama, it's this podcast, guys.

[00:03:33]What we're in right now, I met this guy on Instagram. That's true. I found a video from him. I sent him a message. It was something about it. He was talking something.

[00:03:42]I was like, man, I love the way you talk. You're getting into me. I I You're You're there, man. You're there.

[00:03:47]He's like, much love, habibi. I see you over there, here and there. You make me laugh. You got a nice personality. I'm thanks. I actually said, I love your content. Yes.

[00:03:55]>> [laughter] >> You came to Amman. I did.

[00:03:56]>> Wallahi, I'm super busy, Osama.

[00:03:59]Wallahi.

[00:03:59]>> I am super busy. You called me like, let's I'm in town. Let's get a cup of coffee.

[00:04:05]Did we have any intentions to get here today?

[00:04:08]Absolutely not. And it was so subhanallah. Our meeting was just to have coffee or lunch together.

[00:04:13]>> That's it. That's it. And we got together and I remember specifically when we were sitting together, I never felt that I could really give da'wah in Arabic cuz my main spoken language is English, right? And so I was with you and you had a friend with you and I remember I started giving him da'wah in Arabic. And you just looked at me and you're like, get up. Get up. I'm like, what what what's going on? Studio? We're going what studio? We're like, we're going to record now. And you just subhanallah, one thing led to the other and now we're here with Dunya Decoded.

[00:04:42]Who would have thought? And take another message, man.

[00:04:45]You do da'wah in English.

[00:04:47]I love my messages sometimes to be in Arabic. Mhm. So, our plan is to make 10 in English because we want to try to get as much people to listen Mhm. that need to listen to this topics.

[00:04:59]And we decided to make another 10 in Arabic. Yeah. May Allah subhanallah >> So, imagine hamdulillah, God gave us the He gave us the skills to send out 10 episodes for in English and inshallah much more. Bi idhnillah.

[00:05:12]>> And another Arabic episode. So, I think man, this is all Allah's work, wallahi.

[00:05:16]All his work, all his plan. You know actually, man, something phenomenal happened to me on my way here this time.

[00:05:24]Uh I took a flight. Uh it was from Canada, Toronto to London. My second flight was from London to Amman.

[00:05:31]So, I was really tired. So, I I go up to the counter and I'm like, uh are there how how's the plane? She's like, actually it's a very empty plane. I'm like, can I change seats?

[00:05:40]Leg room, you know, so I'm comfortable.

[00:05:41]>> Yeah. And I remember the seat number, bro. It was like 12A. So, I'm in seat 12A and she's like, "How about this?

[00:05:48]There's the emergency row, and uh the window seat is available. The seat next to you is empty, and then the one next to that, there's someone sitting there.

[00:05:57]No problem, enough legroom." I'm like, "Do it." And I remember again, she switched me from 12 A to 27 A.

[00:06:04]Just before we continue, I want to take a quick moment to highlight something close to my heart. Because what's the point of decoding dunya if we're not also working for our akhirah? In a world filled with struggle, there are those who choose to act. Humanity is on the ground in over 25 countries across five continents, from Africa to Asia, delivering food, water, and medical [music] aid to those who need it most.

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[00:07:11]I get on the flight. I sit down. There's this wonderful gentleman, very nice guy.

[00:07:16]And he's extroverted, so he's talking to me. And one thing leads to another. He's like, "Where you from?" I'm like, "Palestine." "Where you from?" He's like, "Palestine." He's like, "Where in Palestine?" I'm like, "Gaza." I'm like, "Where you from?" He's like, "Gaza." I'm like, "Subhanallah." I'm like, "Where did you grow up the first part of your life?" He's like, "Kuwait." I'm like, "Me too. Did you leave at the Gulf War?"

[00:07:37]He said, "Yes." I'm like, "Me too." And then I'm like, "What did you study?"

[00:07:41]He's like, "Electrical engineering. I'm like, get out of here, man. Come on. I studied electrical engineering. I did civil engineering. It's too much, man.

[00:07:48]There were so many similarities.

[00:07:50]Anything Anyways, I ended up getting some rest and he got some rest. We get off the plane.

[00:07:55]And he asked me, what do you do? I said, content creator, but I didn't give him too many details.

[00:08:00]The passport control was packed and it was going to take us at least half an hour before they were going to check my passports. And he was standing right behind me in line and we were also having a conversation. The two people in front of me, they're talking to each other and they have their phone open.

[00:08:17]And then they go, excuse me.

[00:08:18]Are you Osama? And they're pointing at one of my Tik Tok videos or Instagram videos. And I'm like, yeah. They're like, no way, man. This is so weird. I'm like, what? They're like, we spent the entire night bingeing on your content and watching your content. Anyways, can I take a picture? You know, typically fans sometimes after passport control. I said, sure. So, Moataz, who was with me and I can't say his name, but I won't say his family name. He became curious.

[00:08:43]He's like, now I need to know who you are. Can I Can I get your Instagram handle? I give him my handle. He looks me up. And that led to us talking a little bit about Dean in the line. As we were waiting for passport control.

[00:08:56]And I felt like he really needed to hear some of maybe what I had to say. But he's a great guy. He seemed like a guy with such a pure heart. We get to passport control. It's over. We go to get our bags. We grab our bags. On our way out, you know that last section before you leave, where there's like they check your luggage right before some guy comes to us and he's like, um, where are you coming from? Like, Canada. He's like, right this way to both of us cuz we're walking together.

[00:09:23]He checks our bags. He's a very nice guy. We go through the, you know, security process. Then he goes, thank you very much. Have a nice day. He hands me over my passport. And then I'm like, okay, Moataz, here's my number. Stay in touch. Salaam alaikum. So, I'm going to I leave. And you're out there having that wedding party right now or whatever it is you're doing. It was beautiful by the way. You received I had a like grand reception by you. Jazakallah khair.

[00:09:45]But then after you drop me off to the hotel, I get a message from Moataz.

[00:09:49]You know what the message read? He goes, um, you have my passport and I have yours. The guy at the security swapped passports by mistake. And I'm sitting there thinking, ya Allah. He goes, and is your father Eyad?

[00:10:05]And is your mother Naila? I'm like, yes.

[00:10:09]He goes, Allah yerhamha. He says, I uh, when I got to my mom, I told her the story and she recognized the name and then she asked me and I checked your passport and it said your mother's name was Naila and your father's name was Eyad. So and she went to school and taught at the same school as your mother did in Kuwait in Fahaheel.

[00:10:29]I'm like, no way, man. Subhanallah.

[00:10:32]What's Allah getting at? Think about it.

[00:10:35]From the beginning, changing my seat, talking to the guy, the two that were in the line, him knowing that I'm a social media like in or content creator, one thing, the swap of the passports, all of that can't be a coincidence. Deep inside me I felt like the story's not over. We ended up meeting, swapping passports and talking a little bit about Dean and other things, but I think it's going to lead to the the chapter is not over. The whole story is not over. But these things, there are no coincidence, man.

[00:11:02]Everything happens for a Whether it's khair or sharr. Whether it's khair or sharr, but the thing is with khair and sharr you have to be careful. The book of destiny, one of them in the Quran is referred to as umm ul kitab. The mother of books. A mother typically gives birth to what? To children. So it's like every situation you face in life, you have a decision usually. Not all of them, but many of them you have to decide. Maybe to do good or do bad. It's as if every decision you make opens up a new book of destiny based on the choice you made. It's like Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala wrote all the scenarios. We said, "Oh, if you choose this way, this will happen. If you choose that way, that will happen." The Sahaba used to say, "That we used to see the effect of our sins in our conduct, the way our wives would deal with us and the way our animals would act up cuz they didn't have, you know, cars and stuff around them. They had animals to deal with. So, they were very conscious of that. So, typically, you know, you you do a sin, you make a bad choice, and the downloads from Allah can be difficult. So, if you want to fix your life, if you make the right decisions, perhaps you'd open the right books.

[00:12:22]There's a Netflix. There was a series I remember watching called Black Mirror.

[00:12:27]It was so trippy, man. It's the first time this happened to As I'm watching the episode, all of a sudden it pauses at a certain scene, and it asked me to make a decision of what happens next. Does he shoot the guy or not? And I get to make choice A or choice B.

[00:12:43]That was amazing because based on my choice, the scenarios after change. So, the person that wrote the script, he wrote all the possible scenarios, but based on my choice, the situations that follow changes. So, you have to be very careful with the decisions you make. If you're constantly making the wrong decisions that displease Allah, you're going to be faced with certain books of destiny that are not too good. But if you please Allah, the opposite is true. I I think this is a gift from Allah, Usama. Everything that's God giving us from messages that he's putting through our way.

[00:13:19]To me, to Dya, to me, how he sees it, I see it beautifully set in place whether I like it or I don't. And even Osama there's a saying that said if you could see the future, you would have chose what God gave you at the moment. at the moment.

[00:13:35]>> Yeah. So, I think this is a present from Allah and to me because I think inshallah I will I could be a righteous man inshallah.

[00:13:42]>> Inshallah. You would love whatever God puts in your way. Whether you see it here or you see it char, it's here even if it's char.

[00:13:50]It's here in the way cuz man God if he didn't give you money sometimes we all need money. If God doesn't give you money you'll be like man God wallah I need money. Please give me money. If he gives you money, you're not going to know how to spend it. If he did not give it to you, he saved you.

[00:14:05]Mhm. He helped you. Mhm. God helps us in every single thing that we make in our daily >> Absolutely. And that obviously that is if you're a good person in general, right? Because for the non-believers it could be a type of punishment. Uh for someone that's far from Allah, he can send him difficult situations that are here but why are they here? Because they're going to bring him back to the dean. That's the point to always bring you back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala before it's too late, before they exit, right? Before you leave this world.

[00:14:35]But there's this also the saying that it will follow us at the moment for in the whole young be no real life.

[00:14:41]So, when you have that insight, you really are able to decode things in life. There's a hack where we have to understand that Allah has three types of commands.

[00:14:52]They're called awamir al-juhd.

[00:14:55]Awamir al-shara. Wa awamir kawniyyah.

[00:14:59]Who controls the heavens and the earth?

[00:15:01]Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. When you fulfill the commands of Allah that are related to making an effort in your dean, what happens when you make an effort on your dean? Your iman strengthens. Yes. So, now you're motivated to stay away from the haram and to be obey Allah. So, what are you going to fulfill the commands of the Sharia? Ad-dunya Dunya is either subjected to you, it's under your you're going to have good things happening to you from Dunya, it's serving you, or it's going to be set against you. How? If you fulfill the commands of Sharia that Allah has on this Dunya, Dunya awamir al-kawniya kicks in and it becomes musakhara. It becomes subjected to you.

[00:15:52]The earth, you walk on it, right? The oceans, they're there to serve you, the skies, the sun, the moon. But the minute you begin to fall short on the commands of Allah, what happens? The Dunya becomes musallata. Now that same earth, earthquakes. The same water, tsunamis, fires.

[00:16:12]All sorts of bad things can happen. Why?

[00:16:15]Because we didn't fulfill the deen of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So, the commands of the effort, the commands of Sharia, and the commands of the universe. Fulfill the commands of the effort, your iman strengthens, you're able to fulfill the commands of the Sharia, Allah becomes pleased, and Allah subjects the entire universe, and you become truly khalifatullah on the So, everything is happening for a reason.

[00:16:40]Everything is >> up in the morning for a reason. You go to work for a reason. You meet the people that you meet every day for a reason. You go to the gym for a reason. Yes, I do. Yes, absolutely.

[00:16:52]>> do, man. You do. So, everything is happening for a reason.

[00:16:54]So, I think everybody's watching right now, he decoded I think so, divine messages?

[00:16:59]>> Yes.

[00:17:00]>> I think they're decoded at this point.

[00:17:01]Or at least you're on the right path going there. Absolutely.

[00:17:04]>> Much love, brother. Barak Allahu fik.

[00:17:09]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Mhm.