The Prophet (SAW) in Adversity | Mufti Abdul Wahab Waheed | Mercy to Mankind 2022

The Prophet in Adversity

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

Allah, the Exalted, said in His precious book:

O man, you are coming to your Lord, so meet Him. And Allah, the Exalted, said in another place:

If you are touched by a wound, the people have been touched by a wound like it. And those are the days when we deal with people. And Allah, the Exalted, said in another place:

In the morning and in the evening, when you go to sleep, your Lord will not leave you. And the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 55, Hadith 2999)

Astonishingly, for the matter of the believer, all his affairs are good for him. If he is afflicted with harm, he is patient, and it is good for him. And if he is afflicted with hardship, he is grateful, and it is good for him. Or as the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said.

An Equal Playing Field

Brothers, sisters, elders, and youngsters — it is the norm of life that whenever someone enters this world, they enter what you would call an equal playing field. Where they have an equal opportunity, to some extent, of enjoying life. They have an equal opportunity of enjoying the side of their parents. An equal opportunity of enjoying their childhood.

Very few enter this world with the scales tilted in one way or the other. And when you speak about facing adversity, the majority of us — rather every single one of us — will have to come to a realization that either we have already faced some adversity, or we will continue facing it, or we will face it sooner or later in our life. May Allah give us aafiyah and sabr.

But very few are such that the challenges that are thrown their way, the challenges that are put in front of them, start before they're coming into this world. And such was the life and the example of our Habib, peace and blessings be upon him — that as he entered this world, on that equal playing field for so many, he enters the world without the presence of a father. The father that was supposed to hold his hands and show him the ropes. Show him how to walk through the difficult steps of life. A father who was supposed to put his arm around his shoulders and say that it's gonna be okay tomorrow.

He enters the world, that child who was supposed to struggle more than anyone else. The Prophet ﷺ himself said:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 2472)

That I will struggle more than everyone else. The challenges that were put on Nuh, then on Ibrahim, then on Musa, then on 'Isa — you put them together on one scale, and then you put on the other scale the hardships and the calamities that I will have to bear, and my calamities will be more.

How is it so that this person can survive this tornado of calamities, this tsunami of calamities without mental support, emotional support, physical support? A person that struggles needs mental support. We need emotional support. But the emotional support is to come from his father — and the father isn't there.

The Loss of a Mother

A few years later, adversity continues where he loses his mother. Love and emotional support, mental support, strength — the core of it resonates from the mother, where a child can open up in any way possible with the mother and speak their mind and speak their heart and be as vulnerable as one can be. Now that soft touch of a mother, those soft yet kind words that may be soft in the ears but sit heavy in the hearts — now that voice is lost.

Adversity kicks in again. And this youngster continues living life without this support system. And how is he able to continue? This person is able to continue moving through the layers of difficulty, moving through the layers of hardship because he has identified the source and the foundation of comfort, of peace, of fulfillment — not of ease per se.

No one said it was supposed to be easy to make it to Jannah. No one promised us that Jannah was going to be easy. No one promised us that life was going to be easy — that believing in Allah and living in this world, especially in these countries, was supposed to be an easy task to fulfill. Rather we were promised quite the opposite:

Allah says: do the people of Iman who say they believe — do they actually think that they won't be tested? Allah says, O human being, you will have to go through different layers of calamity. And one will end and the other will start.

Hassan al-Basri, rahimahullah, says the example of calamities in this life is like a person who is struggling to swim in an ocean, in a body of water. And as he is trying to breathe and push himself above the water and allow himself to breathe and save himself — he gets above the waves. And as one wave settles and he is able to push his head out, the other wave comes and drowns him again. And he comes out again and the next wave comes to drown him again.

And he says in this tsunami of challenges, the person has to realize that it is okay to be comfortable giving the keys of our life to Allah, allowing Him to bring us ease, allowing Him to bring us peace, allowing Him to give us a sense of fulfillment and comfort. And hence this Prophet of ours, who saw the challenges of the world without a support system of parents and people around him, found that support system in Allah.

The Challenges of Family Life

The challenges continued and I will take us to the layer of challenges in his family. And then we will walk through the layer of challenges as a Prophet. And then we will continue with the challenges that he faced near the end of his life.

He continues his journey, and then after some years he gets married — a beautiful family with Khadija, with six beautiful children. And his life continues, finally seeing a breath and a door that opens a little bit of fresh air. And sometime later that same wife, that same spouse, who would walk the mountain of Ghar-e-Hira, bring him food in the middle of the night, support him — not just with physical support, but with financial support, show him love. And when the Prophet came down from Ghar-e-Hira, scared, trembling, afraid, and he put his chest on the lap of Khadija, she hugged him, she covered him, and she said to him:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3)

O my husband, O my Prophet, Allah will never waste you. Allah will never let you fall short of your expectations. You are someone very special. And she gave him comfort, she gave him confidence, she gave him support.

After all of these years of prophethood, a time comes in the 10th year of Nabuwah where his anchor is now leaving this world. The anchor that gave him strength. Such a woman, that even Jibreel 'alayhis salam came from the heavens — and as he came down, the Prophet ﷺ prepared himself to receive revelation — and he said, that I'm not coming to give you revelation. I'm coming to tell you that Allah is sending His salam to Khadija. So please give our salam to Khadija. And while you're at it, make sure to include my name as well. And tell her that I'm also saying salam, so she can say salam back to me.

This lady is leaving the world, and now the Prophet is broken again. And the family struggles continue, as three days later his uncle passes away.

Burying His Children

And then he goes to Madinah, and this man buries six out of his seven children with his own hands. There is a name for those who lose their parents while they're alive — it's called being an orphan. There is a name for those who lose their spouses while they're alive — it's called being a widow. There is no name for those who lose their children while they're alive, because it isn't supposed to happen. It is not the norm of the world. So the world has not given it a name yet.

You lose your spouse, you become a widow. You lose your parents, you become an orphan. What do you call a person who loses their children and has to bury their children with their bare hands? One, two, six out of seven children.

And when we saw our brother transition from this world to the afterlife, it was obviously the most challenging time in our life as it continues to be. But how much can we take from a person's life like the Prophet ﷺ, who had to bury six out of his seven children.

As he is holding Ibrahim radiallahu 'anhu, his son — and this son of his is breathing his last. And as he's clutching him and holding him near his heart, tears start strolling from his eyes. And Abdurrahman ibn 'Awf says to him, what is this, O Prophet of Allah? Why are you crying? Are you not the one who teaches us and tells us that these are things that come from Allah? And he says, indeed:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1303)

This is love. This is mercy. The eyes are allowed to tear. The heart is allowed to yearn and to grieve. The mouth can become dry. But never does this mouth or this tongue say something that brings the displeasure of Allah.

The Difficulty of Prophethood

And then we turn to his difficulty being a prophet — being known as الصَّادِقُ الْأَمِينُ, the most honorable person in Makkah al-Mukarramah. And overnight, your nickname changes. Known as the most trustworthy, the most honest person in Makkah. And a few days later, the slurs that are being passed around the city are that this person is a مَجْنُون. This person is a كَاهِن, he's a sorcerer. This person is a magician.

A person who is an honorable individual is not used to people calling him crazy. There is nothing more derogatory and more disrespectful than calling someone crazy. And this person is the most intelligent individual that the world has seen. And now the community gets together to torture him at a mental capacity. And they start calling him crazy — to a point where Allah had to intervene and said:

You are not crazy. You are very honorable. You are rather the most honorable person.

The difficulty continued with the persecution of the people of Makkah to a point where the Prophet ﷺ at times would stay in his home not knowing what he would expect from the enemies outside. Not knowing what type of words and what type of garbage would be thrown his way. Waiting for wahi to be revealed to give him guidance. And in these dark moments, his support system came to fruition. Where Allah would say:

I swear by the beautiful light and the sunrise that comes in the morning, which brings the hope of a new beginning for everyone. The light that comes at the start of the day gives you a sense of hope. So Allah swears by that beautiful light. And we swear by the darkness that covers the night. And some mufassirun say — وَالضُّحَىٰ — we swear by the light that is on your face. Oh so beautiful. The light that is more radiant than the moon. The light that can fill up an entire room. The light that when anyone would see you, their hearts would bloom. We swear by this light. We swear by the darkness of your hair. Your Lord hasn't left you. You haven't been left alone to sit on the side. We are with you. And as long as we are with you, you will continue succeeding. You will continue finding ease and comfort despite the difficulties.

Allama Iqbal says:

He says: we traveled the world. We went to every corner of the world to find something that we can cling on to that can be a source of comfort for us. And we found that in every single system of this world there was no comfort. I found out after all of my research that comfort and ease came in fulfilling Your commands. It came in pleasing You, ya Allah.

The Filth on the Prophet's Back

The difficulty continues as he is praying in front of the Ka'bah, in front of all of the people of Quraysh watching him. And Abu Jahl says, how can we allow Muhammad ﷺ to pray in front of us and be at ease? He says, is there no one here that can go and gather the intestines of an animal and throw it on top of his back to humiliate him? And there's a group of people who are always ready to cause mischief. They grab the intestines of a camel and they throw it on his back while he is in sajdah. And as he is in sajdah, the weight of these intestines is such that he is unable to lift himself. Everyone watching, laughing at him, mocking him, belittling him.

And for us, we are ready for the mockery that comes with looking like a Muslim. We are ready for the laughter that insinuates when people hear our names. We are ready for those slight glances that people love to take when they see the way we dress. We are prepared to hear the whispers behind our back when we pray in the corner of the airport. Because this puts us in the same sphere, in the same circle as our Habib ﷺ.

It's okay to be strange if being strange means that we look like the Prophet. It's okay to be strange if being strange means that the Prophet will recognize us on the Day of Judgment. It's alright. Because now our affiliation is not connected to anything of this temporal world. Our affiliation is everlasting with our Habib ﷺ. It's alright to look different because that mockery and those glances is what the Prophet also received.

And as he is in sajdah, his daughter comes running. Six-year-old Fatima comes running, and she wipes off all the filth on her father's back. And she sees her father and she is crying in tears. The Prophet ﷺ wipes her tears. And as those are our parents — you can perhaps bear difficulty that you have to bear without your children going through the challenges. But the moment those difficulties and challenges have a trickle effect into our children, then everyone breaks.

The Prophet ﷺ wipes her tears and he doesn't tell her that everything will be okay. This is not the last time your father will have to see difficulty. He doesn't tell her that from now on I will see ease. Because that is not the reality of this world. He rather says to her, O my daughter, let it be known that:

There are not many days of ease for your father after today. O daughter, let it be known that there will not be a single home in this world except that the kalimah of Allah will enter that home. Until this vision of mine is complete, I will not stop continuing to struggle to please Allah.

The Hardships of Madinah

And many would say that the days of Makkah were days of difficulty. But when Madinah came around, the difficulties did not stop. Rather they continued to pile up. Where now in Madinah there is hunger and poverty.

One day, Abu Hurairah radiallahu 'anhu sees the Prophet ﷺ sitting and praying salah. And he walks up to him and he says:

Why do I see that you're praying sitting? And why do I see that the complexion of your face has changed? You have become rather pale. And he says to him:

It is hunger that has made your Prophet ﷺ sit and pray. It is hunger that has taken the complexion out of my face.

One day the Prophet ﷺ is walking with Abdullah ibn Umar radiallahu 'anhu. And as he's walking he sees a date on the side of the road and he picks it up. And he says to Abdullah ibn Umar:

Do you desire to eat this? Would you like to eat this date? And he looks somewhat in disgust — why would I eat a date that was sitting on the side of the road? I'm not that hungry, I'll survive. The Prophet of Allah ﷺ says:

This is the fourth morning that not a morsel of food has entered into my mouth. I desire it. I need it.

Madinah wasn't all roses and gardens. Madinah was where he lost his uncle Hamza — where he cried for days. When 'A'ishah asked him, O Prophet of Allah, what was the most difficult day of your life? He said: in Makkah al-Mukarramah, it was the day of Ta'if. In Madinah al-Munawwarah, it was the day that my uncle left this world as a shaheed. These were challenges that continued piling up.

Choosing Which Challenges to Bear

My dear friends, brothers and sisters — these were not worthless challenges. These were difficulties that were worthwhile. Because they paid dividends in the akhirah.

Every single person, we decide what type of challenges we are ready to bear. Some decide that we are ready to bear the challenges of studying alone in some remote city in America. We are ready. Because that challenge is worth it — it's worth the education. Some decide that we are ready to live away from our parents and leave everything back home. Because that challenge is worth our future. It's worth the money that it comes with. Some decide that the challenges of moving around and doing different jobs all across the country while traveling is worth it, because it gives a sense of satisfaction and wealth.

Everyone that is sitting here has already decided what types of challenges we are ready to bear, because that is the type of lifestyle we have set. And now all of us have to recode ourselves and say that if we can only bear a set of challenges for one purpose, that purpose will be to please Allah.

One Source of Motivation

My dear youngsters, brothers and sisters — the source of motivation has to be consistent. The moment the source of motivation is blurred and obscure, then our decisions also become difficult to make. When the source of motivation is one, then decision making becomes easy. Because the final and last question is one question: will this please Allah?

But if the sources of motivation are varying and at times conflicting, then our decision-making process becomes a little more difficult. Does it help me over there? Does it take care of my children in 10 years? Does it take care of my children in the akhirah? When the source of motivation is one, the decisions become very consistent. And for the sahabah, their source of motivation was very consistent.

And similarly, the point of reference that we keep in our life also has to be one. The point of reference of success, the point of reference of failure, the point of reference of ease and comfort — that also cannot be conflicting. Many of us have different points of reference. And hence it's very difficult to say someone is failing or succeeding — because a person is failing in school but succeeding in business. We have one point of reference: in these moments, is the Prophet happy with me? Is Allah pleased with me? And then, and only then, will the challenges of difficulty and adversity become easy to deal with.

The Goal Is Contentment, Not Happiness

The idea is not to just be happy again. Nowhere in the Qur'an — and I came across this after our brother, rahimahullah — nowhere in the Qur'an does Allah tell us to just be happy for the sake of being happy. Being happy is great, but that in itself is not the goal. Being happy can lead to arrogance. Being happy can lead to ignorance. Being happy can lead to having an absent mind. Being happy is a step. It is not the destination. The destination is being content.

The Prophet ﷺ — if you look at his life, and I'll end with this — just if you open up and you unveil his life, and if you stare at his life, you do not see a happy man staring back at you. You do not see a man who would laugh a lot — which is okay to laugh, it's okay to be happy. You see a man that behind his beautiful eyes and the radiant smile was a heart that was shattered in pieces. But despite the different pieces of his heart, he was able to put a smile on his face.

People like you and I, we face small calamity as all of us have faced, and we forget how to smile. We forget how to say nice words. Because we feel that our smile and our kindness is only for us. In that case, no one's smile and no one's kindness will be there for us either. If we are not present for other people's difficulties, no one will be present for our difficulty. If we are not present for people's janazahs and burials, then who will be there for our janazah? And to believe that we will not have to face it is the epitome of ignorance.

May These Wounds Heal But Never Seal

So how we wrap all of this up is to realize that the challenges that come to us — we will be able to bear them and be able to just fall right through them. How my brother Sheikh Abdul Aziz said, after my brother rahimahullah passed away — rather transitioned — he said: may these wounds heal but never seal. Because they can never really seal. But let them heal. Let them continue being a source of motivation for us. Let them continue pushing us towards places that please Allah.

We seek comfort in the commandments of Allah. We seek comfort in sajdah. We seek comfort in speaking to Allah. We seek comfort in remembering the life of the Prophet ﷺ.

Ali ibn Abi Talib radiallahu 'anhu, when he lost his wife Fatima radiallahu 'anha — six months after losing the Prophet ﷺ. So the Prophet ﷺ left this world, his best friend, and six months later he loses his wife Fatima. After coming to her grave and speaking to her in a very beautiful couplet, where he says to Fatima: oh Fatima, I stand above you saying salam to you. Why don't you reply to my salam? Why don't you continue saying those nice things that you were saying in this world? Oh Fatima, I've realized that now you cannot speak to me. There were no soft endings in this. He didn't say, oh Fatima, it's okay, I'll meet you in Jannah. It was raw pain.

And when after he visited Fatima, he goes to the Prophet ﷺ and he reads a beautiful couplet which I generally like to read when I visit my brother. He says to the Prophet ﷺ:

He says, O Prophet of Allah — when the difficulty of my life reaches a new apex, I turn towards you, and I speak to you, and I read durood. And I know that you cannot respond to me, and you cannot put your hand on top of my shoulders, but it's okay — because I know that you are still present in my heart, and your sunnah is still present in my life.

Building Your Insurance Policy

So just like how we buy insurance and we prepare for different types of accidents and natural disasters, so that we can protect our money — if a hurricane comes, or if we have a rainstorm and our homes get flooded, we have insurance so we can take that money back and rebuild our home — what type of insurance do we have to make sure that if difficulty comes in our life, we're able to rebuild our iman? Because if we don't have an insurance policy for that, there's not many things that can build us back up.

And that insurance policy is bringing the presence of Allah and His Habib physically back into our life. It is great to say that it's internal, but it's better to know that it's also external — in the way that we pray, in the way that we walk, in the way that we deal with people. How many times in a day do I send durood upon the Prophet? How many times in a day do I sit alone to speak to Allah? That is the insurance policy that we have to start building up. And a time will come where we will cash out on it whenever difficulty comes in our life.

The Reward of the Sabiroon

May Allah make us amongst those that, despite all of our difficulties and all the challenges that come to us, can stay firm on deen, can stay firm upon the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ. And hopefully like all of those people that struggled before us, we can meet Allah on the Day of Judgment and be honored with the greatest reward.

On the Day of Judgment, Allah will call those who were blessed in this world — and they were given everything, and they were grateful to Allah. He will call those people and say, what do you want in return for your gratitude? The people will say, ya Allah, whatever You give us, we are happy with it. So Allah will give them a Jannah that no eye has ever seen — beautiful palaces. And these people, the shakiroon, the people that were grateful, will be in awe of this Jannah. Allah will say, do you want anything else? Ya Allah, what else could we ask for? This is beyond any of our expectations.

Then Allah will turn towards the second group of people, known as the sabiroon — those who were patient. And He will say to them, what do you wish for the patience that you endured? And they say, ya Rabb, give us whatever You want. And Allah will say, shall I give you what I gave those people — meaning the shakiroon, those that were grateful? And they will say, O Allah, if You give us what You gave them, we will be very happy. Because they saw what they got.

Allah will then say to them: if I give you what I gave them, I have oppressed you. Because I gave them in dunya, and now I gave them in akhirah. I have to give you double of that which I gave them. And the sabiroon will then enjoy a Jannah that no other person has enjoyed.

When the person who saw the most difficulty in this world — not like us, but living in third world countries in absolute poverty — in one hadith, it says a person whose entire skin was peeled off his body. When they will be given a dip of Jannah, just a quick preview — and normally the trailer of a movie is always better than the movie — the only thing in this world in which the preview and the hype is less than the reality is Jannah. Regardless of how much we hype it up, and regardless of what type of previews we see, that preview is not a sand particle in the desert of Jannah.

This person will be given a dip of Jannah, and it will be said to him, have you ever seen difficulty in your life? Like a student that goes through med school — may Allah give you sabr as well — and they get out, and they get that first paycheck. And they say: I will make my son and daughter a doctor too. What happened? Just a few years ago you were saying, wallahi, no one should do this. And now you are ready to allow your own children to do it? Why the change of heart? Because now you see the fruit of your challenges and your difficulties.

When this person sees the fruits of all the difficulties that they had to live through in this world, they will say, ya Allah, we never saw any challenge in this world. It was as if this entire world was a garden of ease.

Closing Du'a

May Allah allow us to be amongst those that if we do deal with difficulties and challenges, may it be in the path of Allah. May it be for the sake of pleasing Allah. And let us avoid the challenges and the difficulties of dunya. And let us aspire to put our body, our mind, our heart, our talent, our skills, our wealth in the path of Allah. And say, ya Allah, use every single thing that I have. If we allow Allah to use what we have, He will give us whatever He has. It will be an exchange that will forever be worth it.

May Allah make us amongst those people and allow us to be patient in difficult times, and allow us to continue learning about the difficulties of our Habib ﷺ — and take aspiration from that, take motivation, and allow us to be amongst those on the Day of Judgment who are able to drink from the Hawd al-Kawthar from his blessed hand.

JazakAllah khair. Assalamu 'alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.