Prophetic Guidance: Steadfastness and Rights in End Times

Steadfastness, Repentance, and Hope in Times of Trials

In one profound narration, the Prophet ﷺ — the Sahaba mentioned that they were traveling with the Prophet ﷺ, and they had stopped in a certain place. They mentioned that the Sahaba were going about taking care of different matters that have to do with the travel. Some were setting up their tent, some were doing different things.

Then the time for Salah came. So the Prophet ﷺ sent somebody to gather everyone. And he said: الصَّلَاةُ جَامِعَةٌ — come, it's time for Salah.

The Prophet's ﷺ Warning About the End Times

After the Salah, the Prophet ﷺ had some very important advices for the Sahaba at that time. But these are also words that we can take and apply in our own context today, apply in our own environment today. And really take to heart and see how we can observe these advices and act upon them.

The Prophet ﷺ mentioned that it is a right upon every single messenger that Allah has sent before that he look out for his people — in such a way that any khair, any goodness that he knows, he must inform his people about it. And anything that is evil, that may affect the people, they should know about it and should be warned against it. And so this is the introduction he is giving to the next few sentences he is going to say. He is saying that this is something so important that he must share it with them.

He mentions that this ummah of yours — the beginning time will be of ease for them. The comfortable time for the ummah, the one with less fitna, the one with less trials, will be in the beginning of it.

Towards the end of the ummah's time, it will be afflicted with different trials, and different matters that you do not recognize — things that will be difficult for you to tell what's right from wrong. And he mentions that these trials will come one after another:

They will continue to come one after another. And the fitna will come upon the person, and the mu'min will say:

"This is my destruction. This is such a hard trial that I cannot handle." So he's mentioning that these fitan that will come to the person will be so massive, and they will look so difficult, that the person will say this is my end — there is nothing bigger than this. Then that will pass. And another trial will afflict him. And he'll say the same thing. Meaning that each of these trials is so difficult.

Two Key Advices: Istiqamah and the Rights of Others

The Prophet ﷺ is advising two things here. First, he is mentioning that you should have istiqamah — you should continually stay on amal saliha, and continually try to stay away from bad deeds and disobedience of Allah, until the last moment comes to you. This is istiqamah — that a person should continually keep striving and striving until the last day. You should never get complacent.

The month of Ramadan has come upon us and has passed. And we all, insha'Allah, strived hard and did a lot of amal, and we built our connection with Allah. We should not let that go. We have to continually keep building upon that. Don't ever get complacent. Because if you don't, the fitna comes, and then you're not in a state where you can handle it. And this fitna will take you from where you are, and make you far from Allah. So we have to continually have istiqamah in obedience of Allah.

The second thing the Prophet ﷺ mentions is that he should treat people the way he wants to be treated. This is a point that indicates something deeper. In Islam, each Muslim has two different rights upon him — haqqullah and haqqul ibad. The rights of Allah that he must observe at all times — meaning all those commandments and prohibitions that pertain to Allah — he should keep those in mind. But he shouldn't suffice with that. He should also understand that there is another aspect to a believer's life: haqqul ibad, the rights of other people around him.

We look around and every different person around us has different rights. Your parents have rights on you. Your children have rights on you. Your friends have rights on you. Your teachers have rights on you. Your neighbors have rights on you. How much importance did the Prophet ﷺ give to the rights of the neighbors? All the different people around you, they should feel comfortable in your presence. You shouldn't be the type of person that people want to avoid, that people don't even want to talk to.

There is one mention in a narration of the Prophet ﷺ — he was mentioning some qualities about a person, some qualities which aren't very nice. But then when the person came, the Prophet ﷺ was being cordial with him and was being respectful to him. The reason why the Prophet ﷺ was doing that was because this person is so harsh and such a difficult person to work with, that you can't even call him out in front of him — he'll start berating you and yelling, he will try defending himself and make excuses for himself, and he won't even accept his faults.

We shouldn't be of those types of people that other people around us do not feel comfortable with us. Rather we should be like the Prophet ﷺ — every single companion around him felt that they were the closest companion to him. They thought that they were the most beloved people to the Prophet ﷺ. Even though, of course, we know that the most beloved people to him were the Azwaj Mutahharat and then the other Sahaba. But each person thought that they were the most beloved to the Prophet ﷺ. Why? Because of the way he treated them.

So in this hadith, the Prophet ﷺ is telling us that if we want to be protected from these fitan, we need to turn to Allah, and we need to not forget the rights of the people around us.

Never Lose Hope in Allah

No person should ever feel that their connection with Allah is so far gone that they are not of those people who can be protected from these fitan. No person should ever feel that the life they have lived takes them away from this opportunity of connecting with Allah.

I can remind you all of the hadith that you all know — that the Prophet ﷺ mentioned that in the time of Bani Israel, there was a certain man who did not live a good life. He was living a very, very bad life — he was a murderer, a serial killer, who killed many, many different people. Anyone that upset him, he would kill, such that the number of people he killed reached 99 different people. What a great amount of people that this person has killed.

None of us have done sins that amount to that kind of level — that you have killed 99 Muslims, 99 worshippers of Allah. So none of us should think that our connection with Allah is so far gone. Why? Because this person who had committed all these actions — what was his result? He decided that it was time for him to turn to Allah.

And as we know, when a person changes the trajectory of his life and he wants to connect with Allah, Allah is always there. You're going far from Allah, but then you turn around — and Allah is there. You walk towards Allah, and Allah is running towards you. So a person who wants to connect with Allah, who wants to repent from his past life — Allah is always there.

So this person goes to somebody, trying to figure out if there is any hope for him, any opportunity for him to become a good Muslim, to become a person whom Allah is pleased with. He goes to the wrong person who gives him the wrong advice, and that person upsets him so much that he kills him, making his total count 100 kills. Now, one small lesson over there that we need to understand: when it comes to gaining knowledge, we don't just go to any random person — not any Tom, Dick, and Harry can answer our questions. Rather, those people whom we see have salahiyyah — piety — and we know that they have studied the knowledge of Allah through a traditional and correct way, then we go to them and ask them for advice about dini matters. If you go to the wrong person, that can be the result.

Then he goes to a person who has knowledge, and he tells him that there is always hope for him, but what he needs to do is change his environment. So he leaves his community, and he's going towards a different community where he can be amongst people who are close to Allah, people who are in a positive environment. On his way there, he passes away. But his passing away does not mean that he did not complete his tawbah. Rather, what his responsibility was, was to turn to Allah — and Allah would do the rest. So he passed away, but Allah counted him amongst the people who are forgiven.

This is always something for us to reflect on — that anytime a person is extremely sad about his sins, of course it is important, if we have committed sins in the past, that we shouldn't have false hope that they'll just be forgiven. Rather we need to have true nadam, a true remorse in our heart, and we should feel bad for them. But don't let that remorse overcome you so much, overwhelm you so much, that you think there is no hope for you. None of us have lived a life such as this person. So we should always understand that Allah is always there, and we can always turn to Allah.

So the point from that is to understand that in the times of fitan, anyone can protect themselves if they turn to Allah.

The Story of Fudayl ibn Iyyad

One example of this is the story of Fudayl ibn Iyyad, rahimahullah, who is a great scholar of the past, a great abid of Allah — that is how we know him today. But how did he start? His life was the life of a highway robber. He used to be the person that people feared. His name was the one that, when mentioned, people would start shuddering, and fear would strike their hearts. Because of the terrible acts that he would do.

You're going on a path, trying to travel from one location to another, and all you want to do is go there to meet your family, or take care of some business, or whatever you're traveling for — you're just trying to move. You're not harming anyone, you're not benefiting anyone, you're just minding your own business. But someone comes and attacks you, steals all of your wealth, kills your whole family — these different things. So it is a very, very evil action, which is highway robbery. He was involved in this action, and he was not just any random highway robber — he was a famous highway robber, the one whom people would fear.

So this is the kind of life he's living — a life of disobedience to Allah, a life of terrorizing people's hearts. And once, while he is involved in one of his pursuits in the nighttime, he is climbing a certain wall. Behind this wall is a girl he is attracted to — he wants to catch a glance of her. Basically, he is about to commit some evil actions. And literally while he is climbing onto the wall, he hears a voice reciting the ayah:

"Has the time not come for those who believe that their hearts may be humbled for the remembrance of Allah and what has come down of the truth? And let them not be like those who were given the Scripture before — a long time had passed upon them, and their hearts became hard. And many of them are defiantly disobedient."

That isn't it a time for you to really change your life? You're a believer, you understand the commandments of Allah, you understand what's going to happen on the Day of Judgment. Isn't it time for your heart to accept those things?

This ayah is so powerful — that they should not be like those people who were given the book before, upon whom such a long time had passed without them actually working on their hearts, so their hearts became hard. And all these — every Jumu'ah khutbah, every bayan, every khatira after Fajr, Isha, Salah — these things don't affect the person's heart, because his heart has become hard.

So this ayah, he heard while he was climbing — and right at that moment he came to a realization: what am I even doing? What kind of a life am I living? And he got down from there and secluded himself from the people he was with. He sat down in a garden, just reflecting and pondering upon how his life had been.

And while he's sitting there, thinking he's alone, he hears some rustling of leaves and some movement — and then he's alerted. He hears some people walking by. He hears them talking to each other, saying: hurry up, hurry up, we have to get out of here — this is not a safe place to be. Why? Because Fudayl is going to be around. We don't want Fudayl to attack us, to ambush us, kill us, and rob us.

So they're running away. And at this moment, Fudayl is thinking — I'm the one they're talking about. Imagine this feeling in your heart, that you are causing terror in people's hearts. So this realization comes to him, and he's thinking that he needs to change his life. And some narrations mention that at that time he spoke to them and said: don't fear anymore — I'm the one you're talking about, and I will not harm you. I will change my life, and I will not be the person that you fear.

Fudayl ibn Iyyad, may Allah have mercy on him, changed his life. He made tawbah, and he made hijrah — he went from where he was to a place in Iraq, and then he had some trials there, and then he went to Makkah, and he spent the rest of his life making tawbah to Allah and worshipping Allah.

The Time to Turn to Allah Is Now

These are some lessons for us to understand — that no matter where we are, no matter what position we have, whatever connection we have with Allah, it can always be improved, and we can always turn to Allah. We should never lose hope in Allah.

And why is this important? Because we are living in trying times, where there are difficulties and different fitan. We don't need to go into each of those — every single person knows what kind of environment we live in today. So if there's any time to turn to Allah, it is now. It is important for us to learn about the warnings the Prophet ﷺ has given us about the end times, and it is important for us to act upon them.

Ask Allah to give us all tawfiq to turn to Him completely with repentance, and for Him to accept us all.

Announcements

Insha'Allah, tomorrow — Saturday, April 11th — Helping Hand will be holding a clothing drive from 11am till 3pm at Darus Salam. All brothers are requested to donate.

And tonight, right after Maghrib Salah, there will be a special program for university and high school students at Darus Salam. The topic is: How to Attach Ourselves to the Effort of Deen. Insha'Allah dinner will also be served after the talk. Please join and spread the word.

Our weekly programs have started again this week:

• Monday night — The Compass with Mufti Azimuddin
• Tuesday — Weekly Tafsir with Mufti Minhaj
• Thursday night — Salawat and Urdu program with Mawlana Abdul Basit, on Imam Tirmidhi's Al-Shama'il al-Muhammadiyyah
• Saturday morning — Team Fajr, taking place after Fajr, tomorrow and every single week

Annual Retreat — Two Weeks Away

And most importantly, we have our annual retreat coming up in just two more weeks. I wanted to take a moment and invite each and every single one of you. This is so important — not only to learn what Nabi ﷺ has warned us about, but to know what our role as Muslims and believers should be in these times.

Alhamdulillah, many people are coming — not only from Chicago, but from all across the country. Just yesterday, a brother texted me — he's driving down from Dallas. Another brother is coming from Baltimore, Virginia. There's a bus of 30–40 people coming from Baltimore. There's another bus of just MSA students — 60–70 students — driving down from a university in Pennsylvania.

Unfortunately, many a time, people come from all across the country, and those of us who live right here forget to join and benefit from these programs. So we should make it a point — insha'Allah — that we will join for this program. If we're busy on Saturday, we'll come on Friday. If we're busy on Sunday, we'll come at a different time.

The second thing is that when we have these huge programs, the biggest driving force behind each program is the volunteers. Alhamdulillah, every single year we have hundreds of volunteers who assist in the retreat. So this year, I want to ask you all — can you join and volunteer and be a part of this amazing program?

There are a few different volunteer teams:

• Registration Team — to properly register brothers as they come and prepare them for the talks and dinner
• Food and Canteen Team — we need help there
• Dhikr Team — every event that occurs does not happen without the help of Allah, so we need a team consistently doing dhikr throughout the entire event
• Airport Pickup and Drop-off Team — for all the brothers coming from across the country

Regarding those guests coming from across the country — Nabi ﷺ said:

All of these guests are not only our guests — they are guests of Allah. So we should make it a point to honor them, to welcome them, and to pick them up from the airport.

Brothers, these huge events don't happen with just one individual. It takes many, many individuals. There's a saying in English — one candle can light a room. But when you have hundreds and hundreds of candles, imagine how much you can light. So if you want programs like this to make an impact, we need a huge driving force behind them.

Du'as for Shifa

And one last thing — there are a few du'as for shifa. A few members of the community are seriously ill: Sister Khadija Shaheen, Brother Mohammed Irfan, and Sister Farheen Ibrahim. I ask that Allah grants them shifa and returns them to a state better than they were before. And of course, du'a for the entire ummah — that wherever they are suffering, Allah grants them ease.