Nothing is a Coincidence | Mufti Abdul Wahab Waheed | Friday Reminder

Nothing is a Coincidence

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and to the righteous. And peace and blessings be upon the most honored of the prophets and messengers, our master Muhammad, the Prophet of the worlds, whose name is written in the Bible and the Torah and beyond.

Allah Almighty said in His Noble Book:

Allah Almighty said in another place:

Allah Almighty said in another place:

And the Prophet ﷺ said:

"You die as you live, and you are resurrected as you wake up." (Reported by al-Mundhiri in al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib; attributed to the Prophet ﷺ)

A Personal Preface

Let me preface our short discussion today by saying that this is the first time I have spoken in a public gathering since leaving up my dear brother for this world, may Allah have mercy on him. So I don't plan to give a very lengthy talk or khutbah, but more so have a reminder that can perhaps benefit all of us — not limited to the topic of my dear brother, but inclusive of it, inshallah.

Success Is Determined by How Things End

Dear brothers and students, anything that we do in life, the success and failure of it is dependent upon how it ends. The success and failure of school is based upon how you score on your exam and how you finish the year. The success and failure of business is based upon the yearly reports. No success, no failure is anecdotal. No one is deemed successful based on their anecdotes of life. And if that was the case, then all of us would be successful businessmen, and all of us would be successful in whatever we do in life.

It's based on how it finishes, how it ends. The winner of the race is not decided by who started first — it's decided by who touched the finish line first. Who finished the race first? If the fragile and temporal success of the things that we do in life are dependent upon how things finish, then what could be said about the ultimate success of this life and leaving this world? It's based upon how it finishes.

Endings Are Not Coincidental

Endings — and how you finish — are in no means coincidental. And we don't believe in coincidence. If you won in the race, it's most probably because you had a good start. If you had a good mark on your exam, it's also because you were doing well the entire year. The endings are not coincidental — they're also designed.

So our responsibility, while we live in this very temporal and fragile life, is: how do we ensure that we will have a good ending? How do we ensure that when we leave this world — within the flash of an eye, within the blink of an eye, the flash of a light — when I depart from this web of difficulties of life, which we call life, will I be ready? Will I be prepared? Will I be glad? Will I be waiting? Will I be scared? Will I be anxious? Will I be fearful?

Those that prepare for those endings, before they even leave this world, Allah allows them to understand and believe: don't be anxious, don't be scared, don't be afraid. Because where you're about to go is far more meaningful than the place you came from. It's far more enjoyable. It has a larger population. So don't be afraid.

And when individuals depart from this temporal life that we have, and they're afraid — simply because they've never received that glad tiding of "just be at ease" — how do we ensure that we will leave in a manner that the angels will also give us that beautiful glad tiding of be at ease? When a child is struggling, the mother's pat on the back means the world to them. When a student is struggling, the teacher's look and love means the world. When we're leaving the world and we're struggling, the sight of Allah and the angels being kind to us — we're happy.

You Leave As You Lived

It's not coincidental. The Prophet ﷺ says:

"You will leave the world as you lived." (Reported by al-Mundhiri in al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib)

Don't start a habit in life that you're not comfortable doing while leaving the world. Don't do something as your last act of the day if you're not comfortable meeting Allah with that being your last act of the day. Don't immerse yourself in something — or an act — that if you were to meet Allah immersed in that act, you would be uncomfortable to meet Allah.

Imagine you're getting married. On the day of your marriage, your wife or your husband sees you doing a habit that they never thought you had and they break off the marriage. Imagine Allah bringing us back, and in the time that He's bringing us back, there's something that we're doing — how will He meet us? How will He approach us? It's not coincidental.

My dear brother, rahimahullah, did not leave this world through a means of coincidence. He left this world by doing that which he did every single day.

People always ask: how do I leave the world reading the Qur'an? How do I leave the world doing sajda? How do I leave the world giving people love? How do I leave the world with a smile? How do I leave the world with my parents happy with me? It is not coincidental. It doesn't just happen. It happens because we dedicated our life completely engulfed in that act.

If we want to leave reading Qur'an, then we must be opening the Qur'an every single day of our life. If we want to leave praying, then there cannot be a day in our life that we miss a salah. If we want to leave with our parents happy with us, there can't be a moment in our life where our mother is crying because of us, or our father is displeased due to us. There cannot be a moment where we stop doing the things that we want to leave the world doing.

The Story of Uthman ibn Affan

When Uthman رضي الله عنه left this world, he was cornered and boycotted by the entire community, despite being the khalifa. He was locked inside of his home for 40 days with very scarce and limited provisions that were being given to him. For three days, they say he was not given water — no food.

So around the time of Asr, his eyes close while he is reading the Qur'an. And as he is reading the Qur'an, his eyes close and he falls asleep for a moment. We fall asleep using our phone. We fall asleep watching movies. We fall asleep listening to songs. How many of us can say we fell asleep reading the Qur'an? How many? How many of us can say we fell asleep forgiving people and reading du'as? How many of us can say that the last thing that we did before falling asleep every single night — with consistency — was reciting the du'as? How many times did the phone fall on my face when I was sleeping? How many times? These people would fall asleep doing good.

And as he fell asleep, the Prophet ﷺ comes in his dream. And Uthman was sitting down and the Prophet ﷺ was approaching him with Abu Bakr on his right and Umar on his left. He embraces him and picks him up, hugs him and kisses him on the forehead. And he says, "Ya Uthman, what's going on with you? How's your life?" And then he asks:

"Have my people prevented you from eating food?" (From the narrations of the siege of Uthman ibn Affan, reported in various historical accounts)

"You don't have food in life anymore because they've locked you up?" And he says, "Ya Rasulullah, بَلَى — I don't have food anymore." So:

"Did they prevent you from even drinking water? The most essential necessity of life. They've taken water away from you. If it wasn't for you, the city of Medina would not be blessed with sweet water, because you were the one who financed the entire water system of Medina. And they don't give you water?"

"The masjid that you financed — are you not allowed to pray within it anymore?" Because he wasn't allowed to leave his house to even pray in the masjid. For us, that may seem very feeble and trivial. But for people like that, that was their life — praying in the masjid.

Then the Prophet ﷺ wipes his tears from his face in the dream and says to him:

"Tonight you will break your fast with us." (From the narrations of the final moments of Uthman ibn Affan, reported in historical accounts)

This was the time of Asr. Uthman رضي الله عنه wakes up weeping in his dream and weeping in real life. He wipes his face and he starts to smile. His beloved wife Na'ila رضي الله عنها looks at him and says, "How strange — one moment you're weeping, the next moment you're smiling." He says, "I was weeping due to the struggles of this life and due to the pain that I'm on a daily basis experiencing. And I saw my beloved in my dream and he told me that I'm soon leaving. And I smiled knowing that I'm leaving."

It was only a few moments later when they broke open his house from the back door. A wretched man by the name of Sudan ibn Humran came and he struck him across the head, and blood gushed out and fell upon the Qur'an, and he left the world. And when the blood fell, it fell upon a specific ayah:

"Is Allah not sufficient enough for you to deal with them? Allah is enough."

That wasn't a coincidence. That was because he would finish one Qur'an in one day. It wasn't a coincidence that he left this world that way.

My Dear Brother

It was not a coincidence that our dear brother left this world serving the students of our school. It was not a coincidence that our dear brother left this world serving his beloved mother — whom he loved more than anything else in this world. It wasn't by coincidence that his life was taken without him going through any difficulty, because he left this world on instant contact. It was because he never caused difficulty to anyone else.

When I reached the scene at 2:15 on Monday, October 5th, I was told by the detectives and the officers — when they saw me wearing my clothes of sunnah — they noticed I was his brother not because of how I looked, but because of how I dressed. Because of the beard on my chin that resembles our Habib. Because of the turban on my head, because it resembles my Prophet and our Prophet.

What are we recognized by? Because on the Day of Judgment, we don't have any ID from the state that says I'm a resident. Our ID is the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ — where from a distance he would tell the angels, "Bring that man to me, because I can tell that he loves me, and I can tell that he lived my sunnah in his life. Bring him to me." What are we identified through? Is it a badge that says I work for a hospital? Is it a badge that says I'm a student at the university? Or is it a badge that says I'm an Ummati of the Prophet ﷺ? That's my badge. Recognize me through my clothes.

The officer said, "I noticed your brother was wearing the same thing." Imagine the happiness of our Prophet ﷺ when he sees us returning to him, trying to imitate every inch of his life. Would he not love us? And he said to me, "To make this tragedy a little easier for you, let me let you know, brother — your brother left on instant contact. There was no pain."

Indeed, food has lost its taste. Speaking has lost its jubilance. Friendship has lost purpose. But life has not lost purpose — because we're here to please Allah. We're here to make the Prophet ﷺ happy. We're here to live every moment in a manner that we're ready to leave doing what we are doing. You don't leave by coincidence.

How to Ensure a Good Ending

How to ensure a good ending, dear brothers? A good ending is only ensured by making every single day an image of what you want your last day to be. Making every single day a reflection of how you want to leave the world.

Abu Bakr was the greatest man the world has seen after the Prophets. And on a daily basis, he would recite this du'a: "Oh Allah, make the best day of my life the day that I am able to meet You."

Is it really worth it to be immersed in interest? Is it really worth it to be immersed in a job that pays me haram? Is it really worth it to be immersed in sins on a daily basis? Is it really worth it to be lying to my spouse and my children? Is it really worth it to backbite about people just because of where they're from — they're from Karachi and I'm from Lahore, they're from Dhaka and I'm from Syria? Is it really worth it? Imagine our last conversation being a conversation about backbiting. Is it really worth it to be jealous of people? Is it really worth it to break the commands of Allah in a habitual way?

We all sin. But making it a habit — we can leave the world doing that. My brother, rahimahullah, was a man of great virtue, so he was taken with virtue. Never in his life do I remember him even knowing the title of a song — forget a song. He would tell his friends, "Don't ever listen to songs while driving. Because what if you die while you're driving?"

So the reminder isn't to make us feel like we're dying tomorrow. The reminder is to make us realize that life has so much purpose beyond the limitations of this life — beyond the realm of what we see. We normally see purpose because we see the destination. But the true purpose of this life is beyond the shackles of this world.

We don't live here without enjoyment. We live here with enjoyment so that we can enjoy in the Akhirah. We live here with purpose because we have purpose in the Akhirah.

Allah says: don't live in this life in a manner that you have no purpose. Only that employee can do well at a job if he knows that the place he's working is bigger than him or her. We can only live in this world and be successful if we know that we are living for a bigger purpose than ourselves, our family members, and our friends. We're living here for the entire Ummah. And we want to live so that on the Day of Judgment, when my Prophet sees you and me, he smiles at us — the smile that he would give to the Sahabas.

There is no smile in the world that will make us more fulfilled than seeing the smile of our Habib, where Aisha رضي الله عنها would say:

"The horizon has a sun, but I also have a sun in my house. And my sun is better than the sun of the horizon, because my sun never sets."

Dear brothers and students — that sun, and that light, and that brightness will never set, dim, or diminish in our life as long as the sunnah of the Prophet is alive in our life.

Allah said: "We will never punish a people as long as your sunnah is within them." That's our point. Live with sunnah and hopefully leave this world in a manner that Allah is pleased with us.

The Power of Secret Good Deeds

The way to please Allah at the end is to have habits in your life that nobody knows about that are good. And the way to displease Allah is to have habitual habits in our life that nobody knows about that are bad. The killer ingredient are secret sins. And the one good deed that gets you across the bridge is the one that nobody knows about.

This is what I encourage everyone: do something in your day that nobody knows about — not even your own spouse, your children. One good deed. It may be charity. It may be praying two raka'at of nafl and tahajjud. It may be doing dhikr while no one is watching. But if everyone is always watching our deeds, then the sincerity naturally goes down. Do something on a daily basis that nobody knows about — only you and Allah.

You will be baffled and surprised by how many stories we've heard about my dear brother, rahimahullah, that we never knew about. I, being his brother — only three years apart from him — sleeping in the same bed with him for 24 years of my life, only until six months ago when I got married; slept in the same bed, ate from the same plate, played in the same court, talked in the same rooms. There were things that I didn't know about. And that's what sincerity is all about.

Closing Words

Ensuring a good ending means doing something that nobody knows about. May Allah allow us to live a life that He is pleased with. And no consolation, no words can ever fill up the pain and the gaps in my heart or our hearts. But what can fill up the gaps is us praying salawat. It's us stopping those things that we were doing for so long. It's us also prioritizing the deen. Prioritizing Allah.