Connecting to Allah SWT at Times of Difficulty | Mawlana Farhan Shariff | 10/27/23

Opening — The Khutbah of Need

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. We praise Him, and we pray, and we greet His Noble Messenger. And we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls and from the evil of our deeds.

Whom Allah guides, none can misguide him, and whom He misguides, none can guide him. And we bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, with no partner. And we bear witness that our Master and Beloved is our Master, Muhammad, His servant and Messenger.

The True Meaning of Success

Beloved brothers and sisters, esteemed and honorable guests of Allah. Every single human being aspires and strives to achieve success. And if you were to ask different people about what they view success to be, then you'll get various different answers.

We are so fortunate that Allah, along with providing us countless other advices and countless different answers to various different aspects of our life, Allah has also granted us the answer with regards to where true success lies. Allah mentions in various different ayat of the Qur'an. One ayah which Rasulullah ﷺ would in fact regularly recite on Fridays, as a reminder to all the believers:

Rasulullah ﷺ would recite this regularly every Friday as a reminder. When Allah talks about true success — that individual who has truly purified himself, he has unshackled himself from all the various different chains and shackles of this worldly life, and he has rid himself of all of these spiritual maladies, and he remembers Allah, and then acts in accordance to that understanding and that awareness and consciousness of Allah — that is the individual who is truly successful.

Allah also mentions:

That individual who obeys Allah and obeys Rasulullah ﷺ — in other words, he creates a connection with Allah and His Messenger ﷺ. That individual who mends his connection with Allah, that is the individual who is successful. That is the yardstick to success.

It has nothing to do with worldly possessions, with titles of this worldly life. Rasulullah ﷺ has mentioned in a hadith:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 2320)

That if this world would even equal the wing of a mosquito in the court of Allah, if that was the case, then Allah would not even allow a single disbeliever to get a single sip of water in this world. But worldly possessions, worldly titles mean absolutely nothing when it comes to success in the court of Allah.

Success for a believer — success for you and I — is the connection and the relationship that we have with Allah.

Allah talks about success. And if you look at all of the various different verses throughout the Qur'an, Allah again is highlighting time and again the relationship that a servant has with his Creator — that is success.

What Are We Preparing for Tomorrow?

So we ought to ask ourselves, what are we doing on this journey of attaining success? What are we preparing for ourselves for this day that is going to come tomorrow?

O you who believe, fear Allah. Be conscious of the fact that there is a Creator, there is a Sustainer, there is a King of all kings. Every person should be worried and concerned about what he is sending forth for himself tomorrow, for that day when he is going to meet Allah.

Every single one of us was created for a purpose. We are living here to serve that purpose. And we are going to go back to Allah and we are going to be questioned about that purpose. We are going to be questioned about our relationship with Allah.

The Story of the Bedouin and the Day of Judgment

On one occasion, there was a Bedouin who came to Rasulullah ﷺ and he asked:

He came and he asked, when is the Day of Judgment going to take place? The Messenger of Allah ﷺ replied, "Why are you worrying about when it's going to take place? What have you prepared for it?" So this Bedouin, he thought to himself, and he said — it's mentioned in different narrations — "I haven't really prepared many extra voluntary prayers. I haven't really done extra voluntary fasts. I haven't done anything extraordinary. But if I really ponder about it, then I truly love Allah and His Messenger. I love Allah and His Messenger."

So then Rasulullah ﷺ replied:

In other words, don't worry — you will be taken care of. You will be with those who you truly love. Anas رضي الله عنه and many other Sahaba mentioned that this was the greatest day of our lives. That I also have true love for Allah and I have true love for the Messenger. So then insha'Allah, I will also be taken care of.

The Yardstick of True Love for Allah

So Allah mentions:

We all claim to love Allah, but what's the yardstick to judge that? The Sahaba claimed to love Allah and their actions met up with their words. Their actions spoke louder than their words. They sacrificed not only their own lives, their own children's lives for the sake of Allah. What is the yardstick? Allah mentions: if you truly claim to love Allah — like everyone does, everyone loves Allah — but if you truly do, then follow Rasulullah ﷺ.

The ulama mention the yardstick which we will use to measure how genuine a person is in his love for Allah is going to be based on how closely he follows the life of Rasulullah ﷺ. That if our Messenger was performing five daily prayers, he was performing salah five times a day, then we would also be performing salah five times a day. That if our Messenger was giving zakah, then we would also be very meticulous and particular about discharging our zakah. If our Messenger was fasting, then we should also fast. If our Messenger would stay away from interest and usury and riba, then we would also do the same.

In every single sphere, every aspect of life, we ought to look at how closely we are resembling the lifestyle of Rasulullah ﷺ. And that will give us our answer.

If you look at the Sahaba رضي الله عنهم, they had to create a platform for which Rasulullah ﷺ could sit on, because when other guests would come, they wouldn't be able to tell which one of them was the Messenger of Allah — so closely they resembled one another. If you look at their lives and their biographies, the Sahaba comment about other individuals about how closely they would resemble Rasulullah ﷺ. How closely Abdullah ibn Mas'ud رضي الله عنه would walk like Rasulullah ﷺ, talk like Rasulullah ﷺ. And like that, various other Sahaba رضي الله عنهم as well — they had the connection with Allah. They had the love for Allah, and their actions definitely met up with what they were saying.

Waking Up from Heedlessness

So we ought to ask ourselves, where are we on this journey of success? What is our relationship with Allah? And what do our actions actually have to say for that? And we ought to think about it for a moment — what will it actually take for us to mend our relationship with our Creator?

Allah mentions:

Allah mentions in another place:

That test upon test will come. Not every bad thing that happens is a punishment. In actual fact, sometimes it's a bounty hidden in the form of a difficulty, that Allah sends to His servants to wake them up, to cause them to realize. But unfortunately, many of our conditions are such:

That no reminder comes except that we are so heedless to it.

Sign after sign, test after test comes, and we wake up maybe momentarily, but then we fall back to sleep, we fall into negligence so quickly. A few years ago, we were all fearing for our deaths. When COVID came, what was the condition of every individual? Did that not increase our relationship with Allah? Where now we were so afraid — I could be next, I get the next cold flu, and all of a sudden I'm performing my five daily salats every single day. I'm not missing any prayer anymore. Now I'm making du'a, now I'm ensuring I'm on top of things, because it's so close, this reality is right there.

The disbelievers are such that:

They see that day very far, but we see it very close. We prepare for that. This has to be at the front of our minds at every single given moment. We see time and again, test after test which is supposed to jolt us awake and put us back on track, so that we end up insha'Allah in the right place. But we get on track momentarily, and then all of a sudden we're derailed again.

The Tests Are Increasing — The Prophecies of Rasulullah ﷺ

SubhanAllah, now there is another test. And if we look at our lives, and we look at the challenges that we're going to be faced with looking ahead, the challenges that are coming our way are just seeming more and more difficult. And the only thing which is truly going to protect us, and allow us to successfully pass those challenges and those tests, is our connection and our relationship with Allah.

The conditions that we are living in as Muslims are very difficult. At one point in time, the test was COVID — the entire world didn't know what was going to happen. We didn't know how long we were going to live. And that passed, and now another one comes. And these tests should not create despondency within us. Rather, it should create courage and conviction.

When you look at the Sahaba, these are all things that Rasulullah ﷺ already prophesized. The type of challenges that we are getting faced with now — they're not just simple challenges. These are such challenges that are completely separating sides. There's only two sides. This is a war which started before — actually, you can say right after man was created — between Allah and Shaytan. When Adam عليه السلام was created, and the angels along with Iblis were instructed to prostrate to Adam, what happened? Iblis revolted. And that's when it all started. And then there were only two groups, and there will always only be two groups — either those that align with Allah, or those that align with Iblis.

The tests that are coming now are such tests wherein Rasulullah ﷺ has prophesized that they will completely separate those who have true iman and yaqeen in Allah, true belief and conviction in Allah, and those who don't. There's no one who's going to be left in the middle.

Who is going to hold on to their faith at this particular time? Where now it's seemingly more difficult than even holding on to a piece of burning coal. With all of this persecution, all the difficulty that our brothers and sisters are facing throughout various different parts of the world, trickling down throughout the entire world, now such that all Muslims are facing some sort of persecution — that is a test. Are we going to stay true and firm to our faith, and our morals, and our ethics, and our understanding of success, and maintain our connection and our relationship with Allah? Or are we going to lose this challenge?

The Signs of the Hour

We see this is something Rasulullah ﷺ already prophesized. He mentioned:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1036)

The Day of Judgment is not going to come until knowledge is taken. And you'll find that earthquakes happen with more frequency. And it becomes such that time just begins to fly — we're no longer counting days, we're not even counting weeks, now we're counting months, they're going by so fast. And you'll find that test after test, trial after trial, one after another begin to appear. And a time comes where there will be so much killing. And Rasulullah ﷺ explained it as الْقَتْلُ الْقَتْلُ — the killing, the killing. And in another hadith it is mentioned, the killer won't even know why he killed, and the one who was killed won't even know why he was killed. That's something that we are living in. And that's something which was prophesized so long ago by Rasulullah ﷺ.

But a believer doesn't become despondent. A believer understands: my success is in my connection, my relationship with Allah. We die securing this relationship with Allah, we're eternally successful.

The Response of the Believers at the Battle of the Trench

This is such a thing that the Sahaba رضي الله عنهم were also warned with. But it didn't demotivate them. It didn't put them into despondency. But rather:

When they saw the promises of Rasulullah ﷺ coming into fruition, when they saw it materializing in front of their eyes, what did they say? "This is what Allah and His Messenger promised us, and Allah and His Messenger are true." And all it did was increase them in their faith, increase them in their conviction, and increase them in their ability to submit to Allah.

Mending Our Connection with Allah — Sincere Tawbah

So now we ought to ask ourselves again: where are we on this path of success? What is our relationship with Allah? What is our connection with Allah? And how are we working towards that?

The first thing that we can do to mend our relationship with Allah is to make sincere tawbah, to sincerely repent to Allah for the way that we've been living our lives. Every single one of us — both you and I. Firstly myself. Everyone has skeletons in their closets. Everyone knows what they've been doing.

(Sunan al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 2499; Ibn Mājah, Hadith 4251)

But Allah knows we are weak. There are various different ayat in the Qur'an, instruction after instruction about how we're supposed to live our lives. But you'll find the very last instruction that the believers are given — after 88 other ayat beginning with يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا in the Qur'an:

O you who believe, stand up for justice. O you who believe, speak upright. O you who believe, fear Allah. Spend time with the righteous. So on and so forth. O you who believe, do this. O you who believe, stay away from that. But the very last instruction Allah mentions in the Qur'an, the 89th:

O you who believe, repent to Allah. This is the first way for us to mend our connection. Allah knows we're going to have slip-ups. Allah knows we're going to make mistakes. But Allah is telling us, after all the instructions: I know that you're going to slip up. I know that you're going to make a mistake. So repent and turn back to Allah. Fortify your connection with Allah.

The Heart — Like a Room in Need of Cleaning

Every single person has this connection. Everyone has a relationship. But we have to work towards it. The mashayikh mention it's like a person who has a home. Generally, people who have homes — you'll know sometimes there's this one portion of the house which is not kept very tidy. In fact, the lights are almost always off in that room. All the junk that we possess, we put it in that one room and we call it the storage room of the house. It's not worth inhabiting. Any guest that comes, you don't keep them there. The lights are always off. It's full with random rubbish half the time.

And this is unfortunately like the condition of our hearts. But like every other room in the house, the electricity still runs to that room. The lights can still be turned on. And all it takes is for a person to go, open up that door, turn on the light, and start cleaning out the room. Wiping away all the cobwebs, getting rid of whatever vermin are there, removing all the other things. And before you know it, it becomes such a wonderful, beautiful, clean room — now suitable for others to also stay, and others to live.

This is like our heart. We filled it with so many other things, that where is the space for Allah, for the actual true love for Allah? We have to work on it. We have to turn on the switch. Make the conviction. Stop what we are doing. Feel bad about what we have done. And make the firm intention to never again go back to it.

The Joy of Allah When a Servant Repents

Just with these three steps, Allah becomes so happy. It's mentioned in a hadith — Allah becomes so pleased with that individual who turns back to Him and apologizes and repents for what he has done. Like that individual who is abandoned in the middle of a desert, loses his camel — the camel which was carrying all of his food, all of his water. He gives up and is about to die. He goes to the nearest tree and lays down. And then after a while, when he wakes up, he sees his camel, laden with all of his goods. How happy does that individual get?

It's mentioned in a hadith, Rasulullah ﷺ mentioned that individual sometimes gets so happy out of ecstasy — he gets up, he embraces the camel, and he actually calls out saying:

Out of extreme happiness he doesn't realize what is coming out of his mouth — he mistakenly says, "O Allah, I am Your master, and You are my slave." Out of sheer ecstasy. Allah becomes even more pleased with a servant than the experience of that particular individual. Allah is waiting for us to repent, to turn back to Him.

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2747)

Our Duas Must Be Backed by a Connection with Allah

And I'll end with this — there are so many brothers and sisters of ours that are going through so many difficulties. And we feel so despondent, we feel so useless. What can we do to help them? What can we do to assist them? We find monetary aid, unfortunately, does not reach them except after much difficulty. We find that physically we can't even do anything. Even if we were to speak up, our voices — how far do they actually reach? What impact does it actually have?

But how many of us actually turn to Allah and make sincere du'a? Most of us do, and we are starting to. But let us think about this for a second — what power are our duas going to have if we don't even have a relationship with Allah in the first place? If we are consuming haram food, if we're not even performing our salah — we can attend whatever protests, we can write whatever letters we want, we can speak up whatever we want. But if we don't have a connection with Allah, that's not going to work at all.

Our success is based on our relationship with Allah. If we don't have a relationship with Allah, how in the world do we expect to have any effect in anything that we do? We find that the Sahaba were such — they just made one single du'a, and they had so much conviction in their du'a. Rasulullah ﷺ made one single du'a, and everything happened. But that's because they had the connection with Allah.

If we don't have the connection with Allah, then how can we ever expect for anything else? Hundreds and thousands of people are going to go to protest. How many hundreds and thousands of people are coming to actually perform salah in the masjid? How many hundreds and thousands of people are actually giving sadaqah, or actually fasting extra just to attain the mercy of Allah? How many people are actually reading the Qur'an to attain the mercy of Allah? And look at the lives of the Sahaba, look at the life of Rasulullah ﷺ — they were in constant ibadah of Allah. And that's why their words, their actions had such an effect.

Closing Du'a

May Allah grant us the ability to truly repent, and to truly act towards that. May Allah make us all successful in both this world and the hereafter.