The Divine Test: Patience, Gratitude, And The Believer's Higher Reward

Gratitude, Patience, and the Test of Our Times

My dear respected brothers and sisters, respected elders and youngsters, assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

Allah has sent us all into this world for a test and a trial. And this test and trial from Allah takes many different shapes and forms.

Sometimes Allah tests us through blessings — whether we will be grateful for those blessings or not. And sometimes Allah tests us through difficult conditions — to see whether we will be patient or not. And between the two tests, there is always a positive perspective for the believer.

When it comes to the test of blessings, the positive perspective is that Allah has given us the easier test. And when it comes to the test of difficulties, then the positive perspective is that this is an opportunity for us to get a greater reward. Because the one who passes the test of sabr, his reward will be greater than the one who passes the test of shukr.

The Reward of Sabr vs. Shukr

The reward of sabr is greater. Those who are patient at the time of calamities, they will have the special ma'iyyah of Allah — that Allah will be with them, His divine presence with them.

And in case a question may come in our mind, what about the hadith of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2486; Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 1764)

That the one who is eating food and enjoying a meal — al-tā'im, who is eating his full course meal, and then maybe he even burps and says alhamdulillah and thanks Allah — is like al-sā'im al-sābir, just like the one who is fasting, is hungry and thirsty, and is being patient for the sake of Allah. So this hadith says that they are the same.

The scholars of hadith explain it as: fī nafs al-thawāb — the fact that both of them deserve reward from Allah. Up to that level they are the same. Meaning, just as there is a reward for the one who is fasting and being patient, likewise there is also a reward for the one who is eating and being thankful. But there is no doubt that the one who is patient at the time of difficulty, his reward is higher, his reward is greater than the one who is thankful for blessings.

That is why Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam — he is afdhal al-bashar, he is the best of human beings, afdhal al-khalqi ajma'een, the best of the entire creation — Allah selected for him, and he also, when he was given the option, selected for himself. He selected faqr — poverty. And he said his faqr was ikhtiyārī — chosen, selected. He could have had the mountains of Makkah turned into gold for him.

One was the offer from the Quraysh: "We will crown you as the king of Makkah, order a whole beautiful crown for you. Or if you want women, we'll give you the most beautiful girls of Makkah. Or if you want wealth, we'll make you the wealthiest man of Makkah." And to them he said, "If you bring the sun from the sky and put it in my right hand, and the moon in my left, I will not give up the da'wah." They were giving these offers — take them and give up da'wah. So they offered him wealth and he rejected that.

But even from Allah he was offered wealth — because it wasn't within the mushrikūn's ability to turn the mountains of Makkah into gold. That was an offer from Allah, and he rejected that as well. So he selected poverty, and to be patient: "I would prefer to eat one day and thank Allah, and be hungry one day and be patient."

So his maqam is the highest amongst the creation, and that itself shows that the reward of being patient over difficult conditions is actually greater than the reward of being thankful for good conditions. And it is also an intuitive and common sense fact that it is difficult to remain patient at the time of loss, and easier to be thankful at the time of gain.

MashaAllah, somebody has good news — mubarak, it's a boy or it's a girl, a birth of a new child. To say alhamdulillah for this blessing requires a level of consciousness and awareness of Allah to recognize this gift is from Allah. But if you just analyze it in your own mind, how hard is it to say alhamdulillah — versus the one who loses a child, whether it is a child we are raising and loving, or a stillbirth or miscarriage at any level. Such a tremendous loss. And at that moment to say alhamdulillah, and to say ana rādī bi qaḍā'i al-qāḍī — I am pleased with the decree of my Lord.

And perhaps to shed tears, but beyond that, as Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam himself said: "Verily the eyes are filled with tears, the heart is filled with grief. But with our tongue, we will not say anything displeasing to Allah." As he said with respect to his own son Ibrahim passing away in his lap — Ibrahim ibn Rasul, not Ibrahim Khalilullah alayhi al-salam.

So this is the harder test, but with it comes a greater reward. One is the easier test, but the reward may be less. So when we have good conditions, the positive perspective is: subhanAllah, Allah gave us an easier exam. And if there is a difficult test, well — this is an opportunity to gain high levels, to achieve such levels of greatness which could not have been achieved otherwise. We have to have a positive perspective in all conditions.

This is the nature of life. As Allah says:

Sometimes He will bring conditions that will make you laugh. Sometimes He may bring conditions that will make you cry.

The State of the Ummah Today

And this is just a muqaddamah to what we are going through as a nation. Everyone has been sharing, and everyone who has any concern for the ummah is aware that things are changing so rapidly — not at a quarterly level, not at a monthly or weekly level, not even at a daily level, but at a hourly level. Every minute something new is coming out:

Lam nasma' bihi naḥnu wa lā ābā'unā min qabl — neither we nor our forefathers have seen such dramatic change in all realms — whether it is economics, local or global financial conditions, wars abroad or locally, the erosion of rights, the erosion and loss of freedom of speech. Different individuals are being targeted — whether those who are on visas, those who have legal status, or those who have undocumented status — starting with the undocumented, then legal residents, then naturalized citizens, then born citizens. All of these Bill of Rights that are enshrined in our constitution — we thought they were:

Munazzal min al-samā' — revealed from the heavens.

And as Allah speaks about the Qur'an:

Whoever tries to make tabdeel and change the words of Allah — fa innamā ithmuhū 'alā alladhīna yubaddilūnah — there is a very major sin and crime for those who try to change the word of Allah. And one form is the tabdeel of the letters, and another is tahrīf al-ma'ānī — you keep the words and completely distort the meanings. This is how some treat these laws, the Bill of Rights, the constitution, and the judgments of judges made in the past.

But nothing we know now is 100% confirmed. Anything could be repealed, effectively not implemented, rejected, refuted. So there is a sense of fear. There is a sense of: what in the world is going on? A sense of complete chaos. It is not about a genocide happening far away — the fear has come right to our own home.

And those amongst our elders who have been here for 30, 40, 50 years — who immigrated much earlier, in the 60s and 70s — they are also very, very shocked and saying: "This is not the country that we migrated to. This is not the situation we grew up in. Things are completely different now. What is the future going to hold?" Allah knows.

We are all in this state — it is not only anxiety and horror, it is beyond that. How will the Muslims survive? How will basic civil liberties — not only for Muslims, but for non-Muslims, for everyone — every citizen who has a sense of justice is actually afraid. So this is something that we have to ponder and reflect upon. What could be the different asbāb of this? How we were, and how things have changed.

The Example of the Ungrateful City

Allah mentions the āyah that was recited in the beginning:

Allah gives an example of a city or a town in the past. The scholars say: abhamū mā abhama-hullāh — if Allah left it ambiguous, we do not need to worry about defining where it was on the map, or when it was, in which era or time or place. Because that does not impact the lesson from the incident mentioned in the Qur'an.

Allah gives an example of a city, and He describes it with two qualities. Number one: kānat āminatan muṭma'innah — it was safe and secure, there was rule of law, no vigilante justice, no fascism, no person in charge of the government who does not respect the rule of law and individual liberties. And then, subhanAllah, it also had economic prosperity:

Yatīhā rizquhā raghadan min kulli makān — its provision was being imported from every place. Raghadan — literally, there were no tariffs, no duties, no difficulties or hardships in the importation of goods. The food was coming in without barriers. This is talking about importing products from outside.

The scholars give different explanations — agricultural produce, for example. To enjoy it is wonderful, but to grow it requires backbreaking labor, especially before the industrial revolution when everything was through physical labor — tilling the hard soil, planting the seeds, irrigating it, fertilizing it, digging canals to bring the water. So this particular city did not have to worry about that, just as in Makkah al-Mukarramah:

When Ibrahim alayhi al-salam made du'ā for Makkah:

"O Allah, provide for my progeny fruits and rizq." As far as Makkah was concerned, the du'ā was accepted, but the valleys of Makkah did not become fertile or green — it is wādīn ghayri dhī zar', a valley without a blade of grass. They did not have to work hard in producing fruits and crops; tujbā ilayhi thamarāt — the fruits, the food, the staple diet, all of it was imported. And the same thing with this city in the example: yatīhā rizquhā raghadan min kulli makān.

But what happened? Now they had an option — two options. Allah says:

You have two options: do you want to take the path of shākir or the path of kafūr? People like to have rhyming names for their children — but if you have a Shākir, you don't want the next one to be Kafīr. They rhyme, but that is where the resemblance ends. And the āyah actually says kafūr, which is even worse than kāfir — it is mubālaghah, an intensified form. So you have two options.

What did this city do? The people of this city, when given the two options, actively chose — with full understanding, with baṣīrah, 'alā wajh al-baṣīrah — the wrong path. They chose kufr and kufrān al-ni'mah. They chose not to be grateful for the blessings of Allah.

Choosing Misguidance Over Guidance — The Example of Thamud

This concept of being given the option and then intentionally choosing the wrong path appears in many places. Allah says:

As for Thamud, We showed them the path. We gave them hidāyah — not that they were taken to Jannah, but they were shown both ways. Fastaḥabbū al-'amā 'alā al-hudā — they went out of their way and selected misguidance. They chose to kill the she-camel — a custom-designed miracle. A she-camel came out of the rock, exactly as they had asked for: "You wanted it like this, a camel from this mountain, you got exactly what you wanted." That is one of the reasons why the custom-designed miracles of the Quraysh were not given — because the rule of Allah is that when the custom-designed miracle comes and people deny it, everyone will be destroyed. And Allah had already decided He was not going to destroy them, as the Qur'an says:

Allah will not destroy them as long as you are present amongst them. Allah will not destroy them as long as they are making istighfār. So the Quraysh also had their custom-designed miracles, but if they were going to deny it, the punishment was going to come and destroy everyone — but Allah had decreed He was not going to destroy everyone. That is why they did not get the custom-designed miracle.

As for Thamud, the she-camel came forth, and subhanAllah — fastaḥabbū al-'amā 'alā al-hudā. They chose misguidance over guidance. They chose to be blind. And Allah says in another place:

They are the people who purchased misguidance — they bought ḍalālah by giving up hidāyah. And elsewhere:

They chose punishment and gave up forgiveness. SubhanAllah.

The scholars of tafsīr, fiqh, and grammar all intersect at a very interesting point here. If somebody asks: between the purchase price (thaman) and the object being bought (mabī'), which one is the actual objective? If I am selling my car to you — is it the car or the money that is the primary objective? One might say the money is the objective, since I am giving up my beloved car to get the money. But the opposite response would be: no, he is giving up his money to get the car. So the car is the primary objective. The dalīl for this is that when I receive the money, I am not going to keep it forever — I am going to use it to buy something else. So the mabī', the object of sale, is the primary objective; the money is merely a means to get it.

So over here, Allah says: ishtarawū al-ḍalālata bil-hudā — they made ḍalālah their objective (mabī'), and the "money" they gave up for it was hidāyah. They said: "I don't need this hidāyah — take it. Give me ḍalālah." And al-'adhāb bil-maghfirah — they chose punishment and gave up forgiveness. This was the condition of these people.

The Consequence: Hunger and Fear

Allah says: wa ḍaraba Allāhu mathalan qaryatan kānat āminatan muṭma'innatan yatīhā rizquhā raghadan min kulli makān fa kafarat bi an'umillāh — but they chose the path of kufr. They did not thank Allah for His blessings. So what happened?

Fa adhāqahā Allāhu — Allah turned the conditions around and showed them libās al-jū'i wal-khawf — the garment of hunger and fear. Notice the word dhāqa yudhīqu — dhawq means just a little taste. It is not like the full meal we talked about earlier where you eat and burp. No — dhawq is to taste just a little bit. Fa adhāqahā Allāhu — Allah gave them a little taste of libās al-jū'i wal-khawf: hunger and fear.

Hunger is the wiping out of the 401(k) accounts and the stock market collapsing — this is libās al-jū'. And fear is the erosion of civil liberties, freedom of press, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, freedom of speech — this is al-khawf. And this did not happen in a vacuum. The end of the āyah is: bimā kānū yaṣna'ūn — as a result of their own actions.

So now is the opportunity for us to reflect before it is too late. To make shukr for whatever blessings we still continue to enjoy, before conditions potentially get worse. Allah says:

The actual meaning of this āyah is that the good conditions people are enjoying, Allah will not change them and make them bad — until they bring the destruction upon themselves.

The fasād and corruption in the land and the sea — and now in the air — is what? Bimā kasabat aydī al-nās — as a result of your own actions. And:

Whatever calamities are following you, they are as a result of your own earning. All of these āyāt indicate the same thing.

The Silver Lining: Glad Tidings for the Patient

So may Allah allow us to wake up, to make shukr for the blessings we have, and realize that what we have experienced is just a little taste. As Allah says:

We will certainly test you with something of fear, and hunger, and a decrease in wealth, and lives, and fruits. But give glad tidings to those who are patient — those who, when a calamity strikes them, say: Innā lillāhi wa innā ilayhi rāji'ūn. Those are the ones upon whom are blessings from their Lord and mercy, and those are the rightly guided.

So what is the silver lining here? Maybe we failed the easy test. But now we have the difficult test. If we are going to pass this difficult test, our rewards will be higher — higher than what we can imagine. Wa bashshir al-ṣābirīn — give the glad tidings to those who are patient.

And sabr — its reward is what? As Allah says:

Without measure. May Allah make us among those who deserve this. Wa ākhiru da'wānā an al-ḥamdulillāh.

Second Khutbah

Alhamdulillāhi rabbil ālamīn, waṣ-ṣalātu waṣ-ṣalāmu 'alā khātam al-anbiyā'i wal-mursalīn, wa 'alā ālihi wa aṣḥābihi ṭayyibīna ṭāhirīn, wa man tabi'ahum bi iḥsānin ilā yawmi al-dīn, wa ba'd.

Allah says in His noble Book:

Allah and His angels send blessings upon the Prophet. O you who believe, send blessings upon him and salute him with a worthy salutation:

Indeed, Allah commands justice, excellence, and giving to one's relatives, and He forbids immorality, wrongdoing, and oppression. He admonishes you so that you may take heed. Remember Allah — He knows what you do.

Announcements

Please pass the donation boxes. Please donate generously. Sadaqah wards off calamities and draws the mercy of Allah. Especially on the day of Jumu'ah, the sadaqah given is greater in reward than any other day, as mentioned in the hadith of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.

Please note we have a special program with Mufti Nawwal Rahman Sahib. He will be giving a bayan after Dhuhr at Daruslam this Saturday, for both men and women. We have great respect for scholars visiting our community — we should definitely try to make time in our schedule to attend and not miss out.

We also have our annual retreat coming on Friday, April 25th to Sunday, April 27th. This is the biggest program of the year. We have parallel programs for sisters, children, and youth. We also have a scholars' retreat for ulema and students of knowledge. Esteemed scholars from across the world will be coming to speak here, inshallah. More details to follow. Please register and put it in your calendar.

We have summer programs — Tarbiyah for Tots for young boys and girls ages four to five, running June 25th to July 17th. Please register on the website. We also have a Qur'an and Islamic Studies and Sports Camp for youth, boys and girls ages six to thirteen. And there is a four-week Arabic and Islamic Studies Intensive Program as well. So basically, for every age group there is something going on in the summer when our children are out of school. Please visit the website for more details.

The weekly programs are resuming: Tuesday Tafsīr after Maghrib, and Seerah program on Thursdays. Thursday Sisters' Urdu Tafsīr after Dhuhr. Saturday Team Fajr tomorrow after Fajr. We also have a special Seerah Series for Sisters, every other Sunday from 12:00 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. And there is an Online Sisters' Urdu Tafsīr as well.

Du'ā requests: Sayyid Yusuf Muhyiddin Qadiri is in cardiac ICU on the ventilator — we make du'ā for his shifā'. Brother Abdul Khalid is also very sick, a senior member of our community. And of course we continue to make du'ā for Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Burma, Sudan, and the entire Muslim Ummah.

Shahādah

There will be a shahādah after the Jumu'ah ṣalāh, inshallah. Brother Angel will be taking his shahādah. Bismillāhir-raḥmānir-raḥīm — we will have the brother take the shahādah, and then he will perform his first Jumu'ah prayer in Islam.

May Allah fill his heart with imān and grant him to make 'amal accordingly. The three parts of shahādah are: to testify with the tongue, to believe with the heart, and to practice with the body parts. This is the first part today, inshallah — and a lifelong journey for all of us to increase belief in the heart and to practice with our body parts.

I will say it in Arabic and you can repeat after me, and then we will say it in English:

"I testify that there is no one worthy of worship — no god besides the One Allah — and I testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah."

Takbīr! Takbīr! Takbīr! Jazākum Allāhu khayran.