Spiritual Strength in Hard Times: A Call to Stay Firm

Spiritual Strength in Hard Times: A Call to Stay Firm

Opening — Khutbah al-Hajah

Amma ba'd. All praise is due to Allah, and His praise and blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, his family, his companions, and his followers until the Day of Judgment. I bear witness that Allah is the only one worthy of worship and Muhammad, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, is His last and final messenger.

The Prophet's Race with 'Aisha During Battle

My dear brothers and sisters, Imam al-Bukhari, rahimahullah, and others reported a hadith regarding something that happened during one of the Prophet's, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, battles.

(Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 2578; also referenced in Musnad Ahmad)

That the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, in that journey raced with 'Aisha and she won the race — she was faster than him. He let the army move ahead, and he ran with her to race with her.

What really strikes me about this narration is the timing of it — that this took place during one of the Prophet's, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, battles. While he is facing enemies, while the situation is critical, while emotions are very tense — so much risk, people might die, Muslims might be defeated — just think about all the dangerous things surrounding war and the battlefield. Yet the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, found that time to have this type of activity with his spouse, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.

The Stories of the Prophets and Their Struggles

That took me back to look at the Quran and the story of the Prophets and Messengers and their struggles.

Adam, alayhis salam

From Adam, alayhis salam — after he ate from the tree, and what can be worse than being expelled from Jannah to be sent down to earth? Yet he lived his life, he carried the message to his children, he raised his grandchildren, and their children, and so on.

Ibrahim, alayhis salam

Look at the life of Ibrahim, alayhis salam — the majority of his adulthood was spent in suffering in Iraq. You know the story: how he was thrown into the fire, then he escaped Iraq, going around, going to Egypt, and the trial in Egypt — the king of Egypt tried to take away his wife. He ended up in the land that Allah chose for him, the blessed land, the chosen land of Allah, which is Palestine and Jerusalem. Yet he lived his life — he had his wife, and he had Hajar, and from Hajar his son Ismail. He took them to Mecca, and you know the story. He used to come to visit his family in Mecca while he lived with his family in Palestine.

Yusuf, alayhis salam

You know the story of Yusuf, alayhis salam, and all the trials and calamities he went through — from being thrown into a dark hole, which is the well, to another dark hole, which is the prison cell. Yet even inside that jail he used to feed people, he used to interpret dreams, he used to interact with people. Then after that, Allah gave him a great responsibility to run one of the biggest economies and countries at that time, which is Egypt.

Musa, alayhis salam

Musa, alayhis salam — his life became upside down after he left Egypt, and it was very hard for him to leave his people and move to a land that was strange to him. Not only that, but he spent ten years — ten years of his blessed life — and did not hesitate to give those years as a mahr, as a dowry, for the woman he was marrying. And the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, as well — there are many stories I could share.

Our Reality Today

I am saying all of this because of what we see happening around us — in our country and outside our country, in the world. And, Alhamdulillah, many of us, at a personal level, are in no way near the type of test our brothers and sisters are going through in many different parts of the world — especially in Palestine today.

Yes, we are hurt. Yes, we are feeling the pain. But that is very different from someone who is there right now. When you see a family — each family is about 15 to 20 people — sharing one tent, with no bathroom. We lose electricity for just a couple of hours or half a day and we are paralyzed. But when you think about what is happening around the world and the changes taking place, you must — as a community, as an individual, as Muslims, as American Muslims as well — know and be aware of all these changes, and what will keep you on the straight path. What will keep you alive, keep you from changing in the wrong direction, or losing your sense of direction.

The Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam — even though there is weakness in the chain of this narration, the concept is absolutely correct — he said: days will come where wise, patient people will be confused and will not know how to manage. While all these distractions are happening around us — with proposals about Gaza while people are distracted — there is a deep change underway. And it would be naïve to think that this change can lead to something better, as some people were so naïve in thinking.

In any case, what I am worried about — with all these pressures, with all these things happening at once, while individually we don't control much of the narrative and don't have much power — what I don't want to happen to us is to lose our sense of direction. To lose the ability to recognize what is right and what is wrong.

If a young man has never really understood the whole conflict in Palestine — Gaza is so destroyed, so devastated — and someone says: "What's wrong with people in Gaza going to live in a nice place?" Have you visited the Palestinian camps in Lebanon? Have you visited Palestinian camps in many places around the world?

I met personally a brother who had sneaked onto a speedboat from Palestine decades ago. He said: "I ran away and I went to Libya — at that time under Gaddafi — and I found them in a fenced-off area in the desert. We were only allowed to go out to mix with the public one day at a time; they would take us by bus." He said: "I sold everything I owned just to escape, thinking I would find a better life outside." Then he said: "I lived in that camp for three or four years. It was the worst three or four years of my life. I gathered money and took another speedboat to smuggle me back to Gaza. I said it is much better than living there."

As if the people of this land have no ownership — no right to belong. Can you imagine if someone came to people here and said: "We are going to send you to some random country to live"? This is a sign of weakness — that we have become so weak that we are never consulted when we witness the events, and we are never asked to join when decisions are made in our absence. It doesn't matter whether you are at the table or not — you have no voice.

Hold Firm to Your Deen

I would like this to be the message: I cannot talk about the pain enough — we all have that pain. And if you don't have that pain, you need to be aware of the magnitude of change that is happening around the world. But what is more important — believe me — is that you do not change. Make sure you are holding to your deen, holding to what is right and what is wrong.

Personally, I know the amount of resilience that our brothers and sisters in Palestine have shown recently. Somebody was in Qatar and told me he visited — Qatar has a hospital in the region for all the people who have been injured in this recent war, most of them having lost one of their limbs. He said: "Not a single family, Sheikh, that I met — all of them said: 'We can't wait to go back.'" Not a single family. So I know that there is an amount of resilience that is unbelievable.

What I am worried about is us losing hope. Instead of looking at this crisis and drawing strength from it, we become the crisis — when we lose our iman, when we lose our sense of direction, when we start doing things that are wrong, which only complicates matters and makes things much worse.

May Allah make it easy for all of us, and make us hold on to our deen until we die while He is pleased with us.

Preparing for Ramadan

My dear brothers and sisters, Ramadan is coming soon. So I advise myself and all my brothers and sisters to make sure that you pray to Allah, and may Allah make us witness the month of Ramadan and help us to perfect our ibadah, perfect our siyam, and do the best of our ability to please Allah and to be grateful and thankful during this month.

Make sure that you increase your du'a, increase your salawat upon the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and prepare yourself for this month. And if there are any missed days from last Ramadan, make sure that you make them up before Ramadan comes. Do not wait until Ramadan comes. Unless your health does not permit you to do so — if the illness is one from which you do not expect to recover, you may feed a person in need for each day missed. If you expect to recover soon, even if it is after Ramadan, then you may make up those days after.

Closing Du'as

May Allah grant strength and sabr and grant victory to those who are unfairly and unjustly treated around the world, especially our brothers and sisters of Palestine.

وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ