Gratitude For Blessings: Connecting With Allah Through Our Struggles

Gratitude in Ramadan — Seeing the Bigger Picture

We are blessed with one of the few Jumu'ahs this year in the month of Ramadan. So let's begin our day and end our day with shukr — gratitude to Allah for simply being gifted with faith in this month.

Naturally, problems and issues are too many to count. Everyone's got lots of stuff going on. But many times when we think about those issues, it makes us forget the actual big picture. Which is: what is the value of being a Muslim? What is the value of being gifted with Islam? What is the value of getting one night and one day of Ramadan? Whatever type of issues you and I in our homes are suffering or going through — in our jobs, with our children's lives, etc. — those things really pale in comparison to the blessing of Iman and Islam, and the blessing of being gifted with the opportunity to fast. A fard fast of Ramadan. And the opportunity to come to the masjid for qiyam and for taraweeh.

These are things that if a person were to have the haqiqa — the reality, the ajr of this — aware in front of him, if they were to be presented, he would regard the difficulties that he or she is experiencing as insignificant. And so Shaytan will make us try to forget these blessings, and keep us fixated on our problems. But my beloved friends, as believers of لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ, a believer understands that problems and difficulties in reality are a gift from Allah to bring us closer to Him.

If those issues were not present, maybe we would not have been here. Maybe we would not have been able to shed a tear or more in salah, in du'a. It is those issues in our life that keep us fixated and connected to His house. It is those issues that keep us connected to our prayer mat at home. It is those issues that make us want to leave everything before iftar and spend 10–15 minutes pouring our hearts out. It is those issues that make us want to leave suhoor — elaborate suhoor — and sit on the musalla and share our experiences, worries, thoughts, and problems with Almighty Allah.

And if a person had everything going right in his life, he or she may not be that motivated to come to His house, to place his forehead in front of Allah, and pour out all the issues that he is going through. So we should — that is why — be grateful for whatever situation Allah has put us in.

The Du'a of the Prophet in Ta'if

The key thing is this du'a:

"O Allah, if you are not upset at me, I do not mind."

This is what Rasulullah ﷺ said on the way back from Ta'if, when he was persecuted to a degree that he had never been persecuted to before. He was being humiliated by the people of Ta'if — emotional, psychological, and physical abuse. And the Prophet ﷺ is saying: "O Allah, you are watching my situation. If you are happy and content and you want to see me in this situation, and as long as you are pleased with me, then I don't mind."

However:

"However, you giving me a life of more ease and comfort — aafiyah, being protected from problems and difficulties — that would be much more easy for me." That's all he says. That would be much more easier for me to enjoy and to benefit from, if the life that you are giving me here would have more aafiyah.

So we understand from here that we definitely should and must ask for aafiyah, as Rasulullah ﷺ has mentioned in other hadith — that the greatest gift a person can be given after iman is aafiyah.

Prophetic Du'as for Aafiyah

We learn this du'a:

"O Allah, I ask you for, number one, forgiveness. Number two, I ask you for well-being — aafiyah — in three things: deen, dunya, and aakhirah. In my religion, then in my worldly life, and in my life of the Hereafter."

And beyond that we say:

"O Allah, I ask you for continuity of aafiyah."

"O Allah, I ask you to grant me the ability to be grateful for this aafiyah." Because if we're not grateful, the aafiyah will be taken away.

As in another prophetic narration:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 47, Hadith 6)

"O Allah, I seek refuge in you from your blessings being taken away from me — your ni'mah coming to a downfall. I seek refuge in you from that happening. And from your aafiyah moving away from me. And from your sudden punishment. And I seek refuge in you from all and any forms of your anger." What a comprehensive, beautiful du'a of Rasulullah ﷺ.

Our Du'as Are Too Narrow — The Bigger Picture

My beloved brothers and sisters, this is another important point: in the month of Ramadan, as we all increase the du'a that we make to Allah and spend more time in supplication, let us not forget that the du'a that you and I have on our tongue — the things that we want to pour out — they are very specific issues. You have a problem with the boss, you have a problem with your wife, you have a problem with your husband, you have a problem with your mother-in-law, your father-in-law, daughter-in-law, you have a problem with the business partner. Very specific issues. And that's what we're going to be asking Allah for.

But the problem — what we don't realize — is that the situation is like, for example, someone who has an advanced form of cancer. May Allah protect us all from that, and grant shifa to those who have cancer. Ameen. Say he has a symptom: a back pain. So he's so focused — "Can you just give me a massage, a heat rub?" He's focused on that. But the doctor who has seen his scans and tests realizes that this is not an issue of back pain. This is a much more severe issue connected to an advanced form of cancer that needs to be tackled. Simply a heat rub is really not going to do the job. You can ask for a heat rub, you can ask for Tylenol — but we have to address the bigger problem.

That's our situation when we're speaking to Allah. We are so focused and fixated on our small little issues — we think the whole life revolves around this. What we don't realize is that we have a host of issues that we don't even pay attention to, that we haven't even realized, that we haven't even come to terms with. And even any one of those issues is so huge that it could seal the deal and — Allah forbid — send us to Hellfire, if we don't repent, if we don't take care of that.

For example, someone who's fixated about a specific type of pain, but unfortunately has a huge problem with guarding his gaze. He has a huge problem — she has a huge problem — guarding her tongue. So we're thinking that my biggest problem in my life is this pain. But not realizing that this tongue, or these eyes, or this private part — the misuse of it — is literally taking me a few inches away from Hellfire.

When the Prophet ﷺ has mentioned that a person sometimes is doing a good deed — he's close to Jannah, very close to Jannah — and then what happens?

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6477; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2988)

He utters one word. He utters one word — he doesn't pay much attention to it, he doesn't regard it to be very severe. But due to that one statement he just said on the way to coming to Jumu'ah — he just uttered it to someone. How easy is that? In the parking lot, you utter something. Leaving your home, you utter something. Entering your home, you utter something. Entering your office, you utter something. SubhanAllah, you don't realize, you don't focus that this is something big — you just muttered it. Because of that one statement, it's so poisonous that there is a 180-degree change in a person's trajectory. He was so close to paradise, everything flips around, and now he's going on his pathway towards Jahannam. Because of one statement he said. That's the power of words.

So a person is thinking that his problem is XYZ. But he doesn't realize that his real problem is backbiting. His real problem is lying. His real problem is slander. His real problem is false accusation. A host of issues that come about with the tongue. His real problem is passing on gossip. His real problem is, without any research, randomly saying things — "so and so said this, and so and so did this." That's what his problem is.

So he doesn't have time to even reflect that he is so sinful regarding his tongue, or his eyes, or his ears. Hence he doesn't repent from that, and hence he doesn't even make du'a for that issue to be resolved. He's just focused on his son getting into a certain program. His daughter getting married to a certain person. His grandson getting this type of college or money or job. That's all he's making du'a for. But those are really minute issues compared to the big picture of this individual.

So we're not going to be able to make du'a for things when we don't even know what's wrong with us. And so this is where the prophetic du'as come in. Every du'a of the Prophet ﷺ is coming from the tongue of that Prophet ﷺ regarding whom Allah says:

"He does not speak out of his own whim and desire. It is nothing but pure revelation from which he is speaking." So every du'a is a revelation. There are du'as in the Qur'an that have been revealed and which we recite in salah. Then there are du'as of the Prophet ﷺ that are also a form of revelation — we do not recite them in salah, but still they are a form of revelation.

The Comprehensiveness of Prophetic Du'as

The month of Ramadan is a time when we, along with our personal heartaches that we share with Allah, must also take time to go through the prophetic du'as as well as the Qur'anic du'as. Because there is nothing that can come close to them in being as comprehensive as possible to address the issues that any and all of us go through in our lives — all the various factors, facets, and dimensions of our life. You'll find them all included in the beautiful prophetic narrations. As you have attended many durus here and elsewhere, and read many books in which those prophetic du'as are shared, you say, "SubhanAllah, how would I have ever been able to think of such a powerful du'a?" There are so many of them — hundreds of them.

"O Allah, do not allow any sinful person to ever do a favor upon me. Do not allow a sinful person — a person who is not upright, a person who has no ethics and morals — save me from ever having to take a favor from him, which he will then boast about in this dunya or the Hereafter, which he will then ask me to pay him back for in this dunya or akhirah." What a powerful du'a! But when does our mind ever go to ask something like this?

What about the Prophet ﷺ asking:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3502)

"O Allah, do not make the materialistic things of this world — the dunya — my biggest worry. I have a lot of worries, but I want to make sure the dunya is not the top worry." And for a lot of us, unfortunately, we realize that it all boils down to the dunya. My name in the dunya, my fame in the dunya, my wealth in the dunya, my home in the dunya, my car in the dunya, my status in the dunya, my children's status in the dunya. Everything is fixated around this worldly life.

"O Allah, do not allow the dunya to become the biggest concern of mine. Wala mablagha 'ilmina — O Allah, do not allow the dunya to become the extent of my knowledge." That I know everything about the dunya — you ask me one thing, I'll tell you ten things. But if you were to ask me one aspect about salah, or fasting, or seerah, I'm clueless. "O Allah, I do not want the dunya to become the biggest concern for me, and I do not want the dunya to become the extent of my knowledge."

Wala ghayata raghbatina — "O Allah, do not make the dunya the extent of my desires." We all have desires. But what is the number one thing that we desire? If dunya is number one, two, or three — push it down. Allow the akhirah and the life of sunnah to be at the top.

Wala ilan nari masirana — "And O Allah, do not make my continuous, blind running after worldly things a means of me ending up in Hellfire." Again, such a beautiful du'a of Rasulullah ﷺ.

We don't want to make this into a khutbah dedicated solely to the various du'as of Rasulullah ﷺ — there are too many of those. But to give you an idea: the du'as of Rasulullah ﷺ and the du'as of the Qur'an are so comprehensive.

Qur'anic Du'as We Must Never Forget

رَبَّنَا لَا تُزِغْ قُلُوبَنَا should be on our tongue every day.

"O Allah, do not allow our hearts to become crooked after you have given us guidance. And grant us mercy from your end. Indeed, you are the best of those who give gifts."

"O Allah, allow my children, allow my spouse to become a source of comfort for me. When I enter and I see my spouse, when I enter and I see my children, I feel content and happy — that the world, I could be drowning in problems, but my eyes falling upon my spouse and my children should bring such a delight to me that I forget all of those things."

This is what we're learning. And the delight is not the delight of the dunya only — it's a delight of the akhirah. That on the Day of Judgment, mashAllah, you're being told that your son and daughter became the means of saving thousands of people from leaving the deen. Your son and daughter were so active in the community with their knowledge that they were able to help thousands of people who were suffering depression and anxiety, and gave them the teachings of Islam to give them hope and allow them to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Wouldn't you want that, on the Day of Judgment, my dear fellow fathers and dear mothers — that you are being called upon and honored in such a manner that you never thought you would be, all because of your sons and daughters and grandchildren doing what they're supposed to do, leading a beautiful life of giving back to the community, of serving the community, of being upright people — that SubhanAllah, you are being honored for that? That's what qurratu a'yun is.

Imagine that hug you'll give your son on the Day of Judgment. Imagine the embrace a person will give to his daughter when he sees that because of the way he, and the way his son and his daughter, led their lives — raised their children, raised their families — was so beautiful, so impeccable, and they left behind such a beautiful impact on society, that Allah is giving them that honor. That's qurratu a'yun.

So now a person realizes that qurratu a'yun is not simply my children getting into a very elite program in a university. What if they get into that program and then SubhanAllah, they completely neglect the deen — neglect you as a father, neglect you as a mother? It is absolutely not worth it. So our understanding of the big picture is very minimal. We don't understand the big picture. That is why we have to resort to the Qur'anic du'as and the du'as of the Prophet ﷺ.

Making the Most of Ramadan

So books like Munajat Maqbool and Al-Hizbul A'dham — which are available in the bookstore, in the booth right here in the lobby — you can ask them for Al-Hizbul A'dham or Munajat Maqbool. 200 to 250 prophetic du'as and the Qur'anic Rabbanaz, all listed together. Divide it up over 7 days. If you have time, recite all of it every day. If you don't have time, then at least recite a portion every single day. And every week, try to make a khatam of it — complete that. And this is not specific to Ramadan. This should be a habit throughout the year. But I am saying: let's begin this in Ramadan.

Let's spend 10 to 15 minutes before Salatul Fajr, after you finish your suhoor. Or if you wake up a little bit early, do your du'a and then eat your suhoor. Similarly, pray Salatul Asr in your local masjid — Asr is here at 6:30. Come over here, have your dinner at home, but spend some time with the brothers and sisters in the masjid and use this time to recite these du'as before Maghrib. Because this is when du'a will be accepted — early morning and early evening — as well as after every fard salah. But especially at iftar time. Similarly, during taraweeh, between every four rak'ahs — this is what we should be doing: dhikr or du'a. Not necessarily collectively, but individually.

Many people have said: "It's a great idea — I want to make du'a for 10 items this Ramadan. I'll make a list of 10 items, and every single day I'm going to try: 5 in the morning, 5 in the evening. So by the time I finish 30 days, Alhamdulillah, these 10 items — I have made excessive du'a about them." That's great. That really shows the conviction a person has in du'a — that by the time Eid comes, I need all these things taken care of. But my friends, that list is still very basic. Like I said about the back pain and the headache — those are small things compared to the major sickness that a person is going through.

So who knows that major sickness? Who knows the possible major sicknesses? Rasulullah ﷺ. That is why, along with our personal du'as, let's definitely make this a month in which we go through the prophetic du'as as much as possible. Morning and evening, between taraweeh, between adhan and iqamah, after Jumu'ah salah — let's spend some time and ask Allah for our needs.

This is, Alhamdulillah, just the beginning of the month, but we know very quickly how time will fly. So my beloved friends, I invite myself and all of us to live every day of Ramadan as though it's our last. There are janazahs happening today. There are janazahs that happened yesterday. Those janazahs will definitely happen tomorrow and moving on. We don't know not only how many more Ramadans we have — we don't even know how many more days of this Ramadan we have for ourselves. So let's treat every single day of Ramadan, even though it's the beginning of the month, as precious. Don't stay relaxed. Don't say, "I have a long 27, 28 days." No. It will fly. Look how last year, we're right back to Ramadan — and SubhanAllah, we can't even imagine how quickly this year flew by. And this month will also go by real quick.

So we need to make sure we make the most of it by treating every day as though it may be our last. And be extremely protective over our time.

I ask Allah to truly show us the barakah in this month, and allow us to outdo whatever we have done in terms of good deeds in the past years. Allow us to give more charity, allow us to give more sadaqah, allow us to do more dhikr and tilawah, allow us to recite more Qur'an than we've ever done so, allow us to spend more time in the masjid than we've ever done so, allow us to be regular in our taraweeh salah as much as possible. May Allah accept any and all du'as that we will be making. Ameen.

Announcements

Please pass the donation boxes from left to right, and donate generously in this month of Ramadan and on the day of Jumu'ah. The Prophet ﷺ has said in a hadith that charity given during the day of Jumu'ah is greater in reward than any other day. And of course, in the blessed day of Jumu'ah in Ramadan, that will be even greater. Additionally, we have a quick pay through Zelle. Donate at masjidds.org. We can also donate through Zelle. Many brothers don't bring cash — we have kiosks in the lobby as well if people would like to donate by credit card.

We have some announcements of our amazing set of programs happening at Darus Salaam, Alhamdulillah, during Ramadan. We have many khatams that have begun — different khatams of the Qur'an. But tonight will be the start of the weekend-only khatam: Friday nights and Saturday nights for 8 days, every weekend, Friday night and Saturday night. So that will be starting tonight and will be held here in the lower level of the masjid.

Additionally, we'll have our youth program tonight — youth qiyam from 11pm to 3:15am, basketball, qiyam, and refreshments with a short talk as well. For brothers, every Friday night, 11pm to 3:15am, insha'Allah.

Similarly, there will be a sisters' program happening every Friday evening. My brothers here, please share this message with our women who are not here present for Jumu'ah. Please let them know: every Friday during Ramadan, we have an awesome program lined up with different speakers and different topics — 5:30pm till Maghrib, including dinner and iftar, for sisters. Today's talk will be by Mu'allima Irfana Fatima on the mercy of Allah — a beautiful topic for adults — and Mu'allima Ajmeri will be speaking on steadfastness for children. This is for moms as well as their daughters and children — every Friday, 5pm to 8pm, including boys ages 5 to 7.

Another sisters' program in the month of Ramadan will be held from March 23rd to April 14th, Monday through Friday, 2pm to 4pm. This is called the Sisters Sama'atul Qur'an program with Alima Nikhat Muqeem — for our women of the community to listen to the Qur'an being recited and then some du'as also being recited, like the book I was speaking about earlier. You can register at masjidds.org/rsvp.

Additionally, I'tikaf registration is open. Visit masjidds.org/rsvp. Brothers under 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. Alhamdulillah, myself and Mufti ibn Hajj, as well as others, will be here for the full sunnah al-i'tikaf. We request the brothers here to try your best to join.

Sunday, March 26th will be the Zakat seminar with Mufti ibn Hajj al-Din after Salatul Dhuhr. Mark your calendars for that, insha'Allah.

If you haven't purchased your dates yet, they're available in the lobby or in the bookstore downstairs, as well as any Ramadan-relevant books you would like to get.

Additionally, we are trying our best to accommodate everyone in the new lot and everywhere else. But there is no curb parking for Jumu'ah or during Ramadan. Please do not park on the curbs behind the seminary building or anywhere else. We have the additional space — the used car lot and the adjacent property — which you can use for parking. For those coming tonight for taraweeh for the first time, please try your best to be here before 8:30. Live time from the North Avenue exit of 355 to here is currently about 12 minutes. So if you want to be here and get a spot, try to come earlier and target to be here 15 minutes early so you don't have a long wait time outside and end up missing your Salatul Jumu'ah.

In Memoriam: Sister Rabia Begum

Last but not least: Sister Rabia Begum — SubhanAllah, she passed away. إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ. She was the mother of Brother Riza from Glen Ellyn Heights — many of you know Brother Riza, an old friend of ours. SubhanAllah, she passed away on the second day of Ramadan. Please pray for her forgiveness.

It's amazing — I just want to share a quick story. Her son messaged me on the first night, before the moon was sighted, and said: "Can you please make du'a that my mother makes it to Ramadan — that she can pass away in Ramadan?" And he said: "My mom really wanted to sponsor students at Darus Salaam." SubhanAllah — in her last breath, this is what she's asking about. Imagine that. "I want to have a share in the students of knowledge studying here." I was very touched by that message, SubhanAllah.

And Alhamdulillah, Allah not only allowed her to witness Ramadan, but allowed her to pass away on the night of Jumu'ah — this morning, after Fajr. May Allah grant her that reward mentioned in the hadith — that the one who passes away on the night or the day of Jumu'ah, Allah protects them from the punishment of the grave. We ask Allah to grant all those who have passed away from the Ummah maghfirah. And our elders — may Allah grant them long life and health. Ameen.