Embracing Adversity: Viewing Challenges Through The Lens Of Faith | Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed

Opening Gratitude and Recognition of Blessings

We thank Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, Most Gracious, Most Merciful, for blessing us with the day of Jumu'ah and the day of the Eid of the Muslims. And we thank Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala who has enabled us, after having put us through so many tests and trials in this year, to be present as healthy believers in the house of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, to have the physical and spiritual strength to be able to make it up for Jumu'ah and to listen to the khutbah and to perform salah with each other.

This is a blessing that we may not have understood its greatness until this past year, until this past year when this was taken away from us, and until this past year when we have lost so many of our loved ones daily till today and yesterday and throughout the week and throughout the month throughout the year. We have all lost family members, relatives, community members, whether it be to COVID or be it to any other sickness or disease or any other happening. Most definitely we need to cherish every moment that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allows us to be in His house.

The Reality of Life's Difficulties

My beloved friends, there are certain realities that a person cannot deny, cannot run away from, cannot reject no matter who you are. You have to accept that this is how the world is made, and one of those realities is that this world is a place of difficulty. This world is a place of challenges. This world is a place of issues that arise in a person's life every single day.

Indeed, we have created the human being in difficulty. Ever since the very coming into this world begins with extreme difficulty and pain for the mother, and it ends with extreme difficulty and pain for the dying individual when his soul leaves his body. Nothing is easy about any of these two aspects - the beginning of life nor the ending of this life. It's filled with challenges and difficulty, and so can be said about the area and timeframe between the beginning of our lives and the end of our lives.

The Prophet's Visual Teaching

The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam once drew a visual aid. After صلاة الجنازة, he was in the graveyard and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam drew with a stick in the sand a line and drew around it a rectangular box. And then the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam drew horizontal smaller lines. And then the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said: "This long line is a human being, this is his life, and these horizontal lines on either side are challenges and difficulties. You may be able to escape one, but you'll definitely get the other one. You may be able to escape the next two, but you'll get the third one - whether it may be through your spouse, through your children, through your workplace, through your university, through family, through wealth, through spirituality. We're gonna get hit somewhere or another."

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says: "Most definitely We shall test you with a little bit - reduction in your wealth, reduction in your life, reduction in the fruits of your labor." This is how this world is meant to be.

Like we tell little children, our young boys and girls at home, when they complain and whine about something, we tell them life is not fair. When they say "this is not fair," we tell them life is not fair - that's how it works. That same lesson I have to tell myself, the same lesson I tell my children every day at home is a lesson I need to embody myself, that this world is a place of challenges and difficulty and you're not necessarily going to get what you deserve.

A Personal Example

Just this morning on the way to the airport, a brother was mentioning how he's trying to get married and he's having so much difficulty because he was previously married or whatever the reason may have been. Although he says, "You know me, I have the best أخلاق and character. I would treat anyone Allah would give me as a wife as a princess, as a queen. And I know that about myself - how careful I am in taking care of my parents at home, how careful I am taking care of my siblings at home, because I genuinely fear Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that if I do something wrong, I will be held accountable. But here I am in my mid-thirties not able to get married, while I hear every other day of a divorce taking place in the community, in the friend circle, and you hear about oppression, abuse between the husband and the wife, one doing it to the other, and you wonder..." He asked me this question: "How come all these abusive people end up getting married without much difficulty and here I am having such a hard time?"

SubhanAllah, that's a very legitimate question that all of us probably are going through something in our life - some sort of difficulty. And what the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is saying: you'll miss one, you'll get the other; you miss two, you'll get the third. If perchance you somehow, through the will of Allah of course, you're able to escape all of these side vertical lines, meaning you live a trouble-free life - which is really not possible, not gonna happen - but hypothetically speaking if someone thinks like that, then what happens? This rectangular box at the top, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam showed it's covered. The line keeps on going, but it stops over here.

So the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said: "This is the person's life and this is أجل, this is his death." Although the line doesn't stop there, it keeps on going - that's his whims, desires, long drawn-out plans. They keep on going way beyond his death, meaning a person is meant to die at the age of 40 but he's planning for the age of 70. A person's supposed to die at 75, he's planning for the age of 85. A person is meant to die at 20, he's planning for the age of 70. This is how it works - everyone's planning for the future not knowing when is this covering of this rectangular box going to come my way and my death shall come.

So that is the final end all. Even if a person somehow evades difficulties in this world, death will definitely come and seal it.

Understanding Life Through Faith

When a person understands this concept, then he or she will not feel overwhelmed when they go through a difficult life, be it in their marriage, be it in their job, be it in a sickness of a family member. Instead they will remember the ayah:

Indeed, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has created the human being in difficulty.

Indeed, you are going to be struggling and striving and toiling until you meet Allah.

If a person feels that he's got a trouble-free life, how is that? Well, most likely we have passed away and our souls already entered in paradise, right? It's not possible. This world is meant through difficulty.

Islamic Tools for Facing Adversity

Now, what should we do? Well, Islam gives us, my beloved brothers and sisters and dear listeners, the tools to be able to understand challenges, difficulty, loss, and we are able to, through the benefit of Islam and through the benefit of our faith, channel that in a powerful direction, make that into positive energy. The cliche "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade" - it's so, so, so true when you look at the principles of Islam and it teaches you that no matter what you get hit with, make that a stepping stone towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Make that a ladder towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

The Hidden Gift in Difficulty

There's a beautiful saying: المحنة منحة خفية - "Difficulty is a hidden gift."

The difference between these two words محنة and منحة is very small. They both have the same root letters: ميم، حاء، نون، تاء مربوطة. The four same letters, but you're just switching - in one of them ح comes first, the other one ن comes first. محنة and منحة. محنة means difficulty, منحة means a gift - difficulty and a gift.

So the saying goes that a difficulty is a hidden gift from Allah. How many times we may have found ourselves in the front row of the masjid, dear brothers, after Isha, after Jumu'ah, sitting there crying and sobbing? How many times we've showed up before the imam for Fajr? There have been instances, I'm sure, but if you think about those incidents, those incidents usually correlate with some difficulty in our life.

Difficulty in our lives forces us to pull out the prayer mat and kneel down and cry. Difficulty in our life forces us to put our hand in our pocket and take out charity. Difficulty in our life forces us to say, "You know what? I better improve my relationship with my parents." That's what challenges and difficulty does to a true believer - it pushes him or her to reflect on their connection with the Almighty and it becomes a reason why they end up getting closer to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Hence the saying that difficulty is a hidden gift from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. If in that difficulty we see ourselves going towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, then know very well that this is one of the greatest gifts you can have.

The True Deprivation

Dalail al-Nubuwa by Imam Bayhaqi rahimahullah mentions the death of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in beautiful detail, and in there, in that narration he mentions that the ending of that hadith mentions that Khidr said, or a caller said from the room in which the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam had passed away. The gist of it was that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam has gone, but remember: trust your Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, fear no one but Him, have hope from no one besides Him. And then المحروم - the truly deprived one is the one who's deprived of reward when difficulty hits him.

You're not deprived and you're not necessarily the person who is going through the most difficulty if you have a death in the family, loss of wealth, loss of job, loss of a relationship. Instead, the truly deprived person, the wretched one, is the one after going through such difficulty still does not use that difficulty to get close to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala - that even in that time he remains arrogant, ignorant of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and does not turn to Him in seeking His assistance.

A Year of Sorrow and Loss

My friends, this year is what we call عام الحزن - a year of sorrow and grief. I have lost relatives and so have all of us, and beyond that we have lost some of the most senior ulama of the entire world. I can't even keep track how many days of the week in my masjid we announced: "So-and-so such-and-such scholar from Turkey, such-and-such scholar from Saudi Arabia, such-and-such scholar in India has passed away. Let's all make du'a for him." This has been a standard.

And today, here again, here I am so sad to announce one of the most powerful individuals that I have interacted with and one of the most powerful, most knowledgeable scholars that I have met in my entire life: Sheikh Taha Karan from Cape Town, South Africa, the Amir and the Mufti of the MJC, the Jamia of the Ulama in Cape Town, and one of the leading ulama of the world. Actually the Turkish government recognizes that and sent out actual official condolences on behalf of the president. Today his صلاة الجنازة took place. He passed away at the Hajj time, on Fajr, before Fajr, through COVID. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to accept his martyrdom and the martyrdom of his brother who also passed away a few weeks ago.

From the community, be it our relatives, be it ulama, be it whoever they are, my beloved friends, this is a lot to absorb. We are going through a lot and we're continuing to go - it doesn't stop. We're continuing to go through difficulty. But what's the only thing that makes us go forward and not give up?

The Power of Faith in Times of Adversity

It's faith, Iman, when I think about those Afghani sisters, women a couple years back - not one incident, multiple incidents - who send their children to the masjid to attend the graduation of their khifzul Quran along with their fathers. They're dressed up in turbans, beautiful shalwar kameez, beautiful clothes - fathers and sons. I don't remember the number, 40, 30 of them graduating from their madrasa, and a suicide bomber attacked and killed all of them. Fathers and sons and the imam and the whole masjid was blown up into pieces.

I reflected that day immediately on that incident and I thought about those women out in Afghanistan who probably were not very wealthy and rich, did not have health care, did not have any pension plan, did not have any life insurance policies. Lost their husband and their beautiful innocent kid who just memorized a Quran.

The Universal Reality of Suffering

I want you to think whether that story or every Palestinian, Syrian, Iraqi, Burmese, West African, East African or anywhere else in the world who goes through unbelievable level difficulties - how do they live the next day? How do they wake up the next morning?

Why is it today in America we see such a high rate of suicide amongst the community and generally as well? Why is mental illness increasing to such an extent within this pandemic and before and now as well? There are many reasons for that. Of course, there's chemical imbalances, there's genes and so forth. I'm not getting into that.

Faith as a Coping Mechanism

One thing I want you to understand and I'm trying to understand is that faith and belief in Allah is such a powerful, powerful coping mechanism that whatever life throws at you - even as horrible as a story I just shared with you and the many, many more horrific stories than this that we hear about in the news - it's Iman in Allah, Iman in the Day of Judgment, Iman in faith in Taqdeer and predestiny that allows a person to wake up the next morning, do his wudu, go to the masjid and pray Fajr and move on with life.

On the other hand, if a person does not have that strong faith, then receiving a pink slip to losing money on Robin Hood can make a person want to take their life.

The Path Forward: Trust in Allah

Where do we move forward from here? These difficulties will not end. What you and I need to work on is genuinely increasing our trust and reliance upon Allah - that Allah is a master planner. He is the one who is the narrator of my life. He is writing that story. He knows very well the past, present, and the future. Hands off - I do what I'm supposed to do when I'm supposed to do it. After that, I lay my trust with Allah. Not once am I going to ask "why this, why now, why me?" He's got the perfect story in store for us. We do not know the end. He definitely knows the end of that story.

There's a lot of twisting in the plot and the story of Yusuf is a perfect example of that.

The Divine Plan

My dear friends, all of us are going through a roller coaster, but let us rest assured that Allah is the engineer of this roller coaster. Allah has full control, full throttle over what's happening. And the end, insha'Allah, if our trust is with Allah and our reliance with Allah, we will find ourselves in the company of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, the companions, the righteous ones under His throne, insha'Allah.

But it requires for us to have trust in Him, to think good of Him, to have good thoughts about Him - not to be thinking evil thoughts about Him or to fall into depression or anxiety.

Sources of Spiritual Strength

And where are we going to get the strength for that? Through the dhikr of Allah, assigning the greatness of Allah, attendance in the masjid, staying connected with the house of Allah, attending the gatherings of knowledge and dhikr - this is what will give you and I the spiritual strength, insha'Allah, to be able to handle whatever difficulty Allah chooses to give us.

And with this deep faith inside that this difficulty is a gift - though it may be hidden, it may be camouflaged - but it's a gift from Allah that Allah is sending for me so that I may get closer to Him.

Closing Du'a

I ask Almighty Allah to allow you and I to be able to understand life and the difficulties of life through the lens of faith. And may He allow us to embrace whatever Allah chooses to give us. May He allow us to be thankful when it requires to be thankful. May He allow us to remain patient when it requires us to be patient.