Blessings From the Test of Allah(SWT) - Mufti Minhajuddin Ahmed | Islamic Reminder | Jummah Khutbah

Blessings From the Test of Allah — Jumu'ah Khutbah

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. And peace and blessings be upon the Messenger and the Seal of the Prophets, and upon his good and pure family, and upon those who follow them with good, and call upon their support, and wait for His Sunnah until the Day of Judgment.

As for the rest, Allah, the Exalted in His Glory, has decreed — after we seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Satan — In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful:

Allah, the Exalted in His Glory, has spoken the truth. My dear respected brothers and sisters, respected elders and young students, السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ.

This Life Is a Test

Allah, the Exalted in His Glory, has sent us all into this world for a test and a trial. The system of entering this life and leaving this life — this life and death, this cycle that we are all going through — it is a test from Allah, the Exalted in His Glory, who created death and life. He is the One who has created life and death to test you: who are the best in their deeds.

And the test from Allah, the Exalted in His Glory, takes various shapes and forms. Allah, the Exalted in His Glory, sometimes tests us by giving us things, by granting us blessings, to see whether we will be grateful to Him or not, whether we will make shukr to Allah, the Exalted in His Glory, or not. And sometimes Allah, the Exalted in His Glory, tests us by afflicting us with losses and afflictions, and death, and miseries and calamities, to see whether we will be patient or not.

Both of these are tests from Allah, the Exalted in His Glory. Allah, the Exalted in His Glory, has actually promised us in the Quran — so He does not take us by surprise:

Allah, the Exalted in His Glory, says that most definitely He will surely test you. And He uses the emphasis in taqid: وَلَنَبْلُوَنَّكُم — most definitely, most surely, Allah, the Exalted in His Glory, has promised He will test you. He will test us.

And in case we get very scared, He says بِشَيْءٍ — with a little bit. It is not beyond what we can bear.

Allah, the Exalted in His Glory, does not make us bear beyond that which we have the ability. Of خَوْفٍ — of fear; وَالْجُوعِ — and hunger; وَنَقْصٍ مِّنَ الْأَمْوَالِ وَالْأَنفُسِ — and decrease in life and wealth and fruits.

And Allah, the Exalted in His Glory, says: give the glad tidings to those who are patient. They are those that when they are affected by any calamity, they say: إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ — to Allah we belong and towards Him is our return. Upon them is the special mercy of Allah, and they are the rightly guided ones.

Overcoming Afflictions Through Patience and Salah

Allah says: when these afflictions come, how do you overcome them? How do you seek the help of Allah?

O those who believe, seek the help of Allah with patience and Salah. Verily, Allah is with those who are patient. الصَّابِر is the one who, at the time of difficulty, instead of saying something displeasing to Allah, accepts this as the decree of Allah and patiently bears that loss. For this person — إِنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَ الصَّابِرِينَ — he has the honor that Allah is saying: I am with him. He has the ma'iyyah of Allah.

The Woman of Jannah: A Story of Sabr

There are many, many virtues that Rasulullah ﷺ has given, and basharat and glad tidings regarding those who are patient. One time Abdullah ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, was sitting in the Haram and he asked the Sahaba: shall I not show you a woman of Jannah? They became very surprised — how can you say with such conviction that this is a woman of Jannah? Rasulullah ﷺ himself did not do that unless Allah informed him.

He said: see this old woman who is walking by — she is a guaranteed woman of Jannah. Because I recall many, many years ago she came to Rasulullah ﷺ and she said: Ya Rasulullah, I am suffering from epilepsy and I have epileptic fits — can you make dua that Allah cure me of this disease? Rasulullah ﷺ said: yes, I can make dua to Allah — Allah is the One who has shifa and cure in His control. He alone can cure us from all diseases. Insha'Allah He will respond to my call and cure you. Or you have the option of making sabr, of being patient on this trial, and if you choose to be patient then your reward is Jannah.

She said: Ya Rasulullah, I will bear this trial patiently, but I have one request — if you make dua to Allah that when I suffer these epileptic fits sometimes I end up exposing myself, and this brings great shame to me when I regain my senses. Can you ensure that I remain covered even when I have the fits?

Imagine the level of the haya of this woman — the modesty — that even though she would from the shari' perspective be excused, because she cannot control her body movements at that time, yet her concern is that she does not want to be exposed when she is undergoing a fit. Rasulullah ﷺ said: yes, I will make that dua and you will not be exposed when you are suffering that fit. So she chose to suffer and bear it patiently upon the promise of Jannah from Rasulullah ﷺ.

Abu Sufyan and the Battle of Hunayn: Choosing Jannah Over Sight

After the Battle of Taif — when the Banu Thaqif, the tribe of Taif, and the Battle of Hunayn — the Muslim army was going through a very narrow valley. They were great in number: there were 10,000 Sahaba who came for the Fath and another 2,000 from Mecca had joined them, so there were 12,000. This was the first time they were in a larger number than their enemy, than their adversary.

Always the numbers were less on the Muslim side — 313 in Badr versus 1,000; 700 in Uhud versus thousands; in Khandaq it was 3,000 Sahaba versus 10,000. They always were in the minority. This is the first time they were in the majority.

Allah says: remember on the day of Hunayn when you were so proud of your big numbers — then it did not help you in the least. The earth became tight for you, and you turned your backs and ran. They were passing through a narrow gorge and there were archers from the Thaqif — who were the expert archers of Arabia — on both sides, hidden on top of the mountain, and they started shooting down arrows. The Muslims could not return fire because the archers were high up in the mountain in an advantage position, and the Muslim army started turning around and fleeing. Rasulullah ﷺ was calling out to them, and Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, was with him calling out loudly on his behalf: do not turn your backs, where are you going?

At that time, many Sahaba were injured. One Sahabi who was a recent convert to Islam — the leader of the Quraysh of Mecca, Abu Sufyan, who had just accepted Islam a few days earlier — came to Rasulullah ﷺ. And it was a very horrific sight: an arrow had entered into his eye and his whole eyeball had come out. He got a wound in his head and it was an empty hole in his eye socket — and he brought his eye in his hand. The eyeball was in his hand instead of in the socket, and he brought it to Rasulullah ﷺ and said: Ya Rasulullah, this is the injury I have suffered.

So Rasulullah ﷺ asked him: O Abu Sufyan, if you wish I can make dua, and if I put this eye back into the socket you will have complete vision — 20/20 vision — such a type of surgery which was impossible to do even today. Everything will be connected, it will be reconnected to the optic nerve, the retina, the cornea, everything will be in perfect working condition — the lens, everything. Just as Isa, peace be upon him, used to say:

And I cure the leper and the blind — الْأَكْمَهَ is the one who was born blind, the one who was born blind and never saw — and I bring the dead back to life by بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ, with the order of Allah, not from my own side. I am not God or son of God — Allah is the one who makes it happen.

So Rasulullah ﷺ said: that is one option you have. Or the other option is: you can get the reward for this in Jannah. He said: what? I will get a reward in Jannah? Then without a second hesitation he threw his eye into the field and said: I don't need this eye — I'd rather take the reward in Jannah. And the other eye, he lost it in the Battle of Yarmouk, and then he became completely blind as an old man. This is Abu Sufyan, may Allah be pleased with him.

Ihtisab: Hoping for the Reward from Allah

So these are examples of sabr and hoping for the reward from Allah. Hoping for the reward from Allah is known as ihtisab. Ihtisab is that I will bear this suffering, I will not complain against Allah, and I hope for the reward from Allah.

Rasulullah ﷺ and the Passing of His Son Ibrahim

The very famous hadith of Rasulullah ﷺ regarding his own son passing away is beautiful, because it gives us the limits. When his own dear son — his first son Qasim, for whom he is known as Abu Qasim, father of Qasim — Qasim passed away. Then Abdullah, who was known as Tayyib and Tahir, passed away. Then finally his last son he ever had was Ibrahim, and he was also passing away.

When Ibrahim was passing away in the arms of his old father Rasulullah ﷺ, this was such a sad moment. This was his last male son. And by this time, three of his daughters had passed away. Zaynab, may Allah be pleased with her, was attacked during the Hijrah — she suffered a miscarriage, her fetus was aborted because of the spear attack in her womb, and she died from that. Ruqayyah and Umm Kulthum, may Allah be pleased with them, had also passed away. Only Fatimah, may Allah be pleased with her, was alive — his one daughter — and he had no sons, and now he had this one last son Ibrahim breathing his last in his lap.

Rasulullah ﷺ was overcome with emotions and the tears started flowing down his cheeks and he was crying. So a Sahabi — he was not objecting, but he wanted to learn — he asked: Ya Rasulullah, this is the decree of Allah and you are crying. Is it okay to cry? Is it permissible? He wanted to understand: what is permissible and what is not permissible? When we say we have to accept the order of Allah, does it mean we cannot express grief, we just have to say this is what Allah said and be happy with that? Or are we allowed to express grief, and how much?

So Rasulullah ﷺ — he was given the ability to speak short words full of wisdom — he said it straight up:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1303; Sahih Muslim, Book 11, Hadith 2315)

Verily the eyes are shedding tears, verily the heart is filled with grief — but with my tongue I will not utter any statement against the decree of Allah. I will not say anything displeasing to Allah with my tongue.

This is the limit. It is permissible to feel the grief in the heart over the departure of a loved one. It is permissible to shed tears — Allah did not put a restriction on that. But what is prohibited is to say such words attacking the decision of Allah: "Why did Allah choose me?"

The Woman at the Grave: True Patience at the First Moment

There was a woman who was doing the same thing — saying by the grave of her son, crying: "Why did my son have to die?" And Rasulullah ﷺ passed by and tried to console her: please be patient, this happened with the decree of Allah. She was so deeply drowning in her grief that she did not recognize Rasulullah ﷺ. She said: go away from here, what do you know of my pain? Afterwards, people came and told her: do you know who you were addressing? That was Rasulullah ﷺ. She became very embarrassed and said: let me go and apologize.

So she went to find Rasulullah ﷺ. There is a tangential point she mentions in the hadith — she said: I found that there was no guard there. She was surprised by that. She thought there would have been a guard. There used to be a guard — that is why we have the pillar, the Pillar of the Guard — there used to be a guard standing. But then when this ayah was revealed by Allah:

O my Rasul, do the effort of tabligh — propagate the message of Allah — and Allah will protect you from the people. There is a direct cause-and-effect relationship established by this ayah: if you do the effort of tabligh, you will have the protection of Allah, the divine protection of Allah. So when this ayah was revealed, Rasulullah ﷺ came out and told the guard: you are dismissed. The guard said: oh, should I come back after an hour? No — you don't have to come back tomorrow. Permanently dismissed. There is no guard anymore. Allah has said He will protect me.

So she found no guard, got the audience of Rasulullah ﷺ, and said: Ya Rasulullah, I promise I am going to be patient now, and I am so sorry that I was so rude to you because I did not recognize you. Rasulullah ﷺ said: that is fine — be patient.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1283; Sahih Muslim, Book 11, Hadith 2179)

The true patience that counts and is rewarding is at the first strike — right when the calamity strikes. Eventually, everyone learns to be patient; you learn to deal with it. But right at the moment when the calamity strikes, if you hold your nafs and do not utter any statement against Allah, and understand that this is a decree of Allah — that is the one who will receive the reward.

Those who are patient will be given a reward from Allah — such a great reward, without any measure.

Closing Du'a

We ask from Allah that He, first of all, does not test us — but if He decides to test us, then He grants us the ability to be patient and to overcome these trials that we will face in life. This is the nature of life, such that insha'Allah when we return to Allah, we will be cleansed of our sins and we will have a lofty status in Jannah awaiting us for the trials that we bore patiently.

Let us now perform the Sunnah, insha'Allah.