Striving For The Hereafter: Understanding Allah's Infinite Power And Provision

Opening Praise and Salutation

Amma ba'ad — Allah says in His noble Book, after we seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Shaytan:

And the Prophet said:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2459)

"The wise person is the one who takes account of himself and works for what comes after death, and the incapable person is the one who follows his desires and then places his hopes in Allah."

And the Prophet said to Abu Sufyan:

"O Abu Sufyan, I have come to you with the honour of both this world and the Hereafter" — or words to that effect.

The Greatness of Allah

Respected audience, dear brothers and sisters, we start off with the glorification of Allah.

O Allah, that the eyes cannot see, and the thoughts cannot fathom, and anyone attempting to give a description of Allah cannot do so — He knows the weight of the weightiest mountains, and the depths of the deepest oceans, and the number of raindrops that are going to fall from the sky.

That if we were to take all the trees that exist in the universe and turn them into pens, and take the water from all the oceans on the planet and turn them into ink, and start to write down and note down and glorify Allah — لَنَفِدَ الْبَحْرُ قَبْلَ أَن تَنفَدَ كَلِمَاتُ رَبِّي — the water of the oceans will finish, and all the trees which we use to carve out pens will finish, before you could finish with the glorification of Allah.

How does the greatness of Allah relate to the creation itself? He says:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2577)

He says, O my beloved slaves — يَا عِبَادِي — what a beautiful way of calling out to His servants and His slaves. It shows the relationship that we enjoy with the entity of Allah. That if people from the very beginning of times — أَوَّلَكُم، آخِرَكُم — till the end of times — إِنسَكُم، جِنَّكُم — humankind and jinn-kind — قَامُوا فِي صَعِيدٍ وَاحِد — they all gathered in one raised place, and they began to seek their needs from Allah. Allah says: I will fulfil each and every single one of their needs, but there will be no deficiency which will happen in My treasures.

And then Allah clarifies that with an example: that if you were to take a needle and dip it into the water of the ocean, there is a chance that some deficiency may happen in the water of the ocean due to that little drop of water which may stick to the tip of the needle. Allah says: مَا نَقَصَ ذَلِكَ مِمَّا عِندِي إِلَّا كَمَا يَنقُصُ المِخيَطُ إِذَا أُدخِلَ البَحر — not even that much deficiency happens in the treasures of Allah. This is the greatness of Allah.

The Human Pursuit of Happiness

Respected audience, each and every single human being on the face of this earth — whether they were in the past or in the present — each and every single one of us is in pursuit of happiness. We want to be happy, we seek happiness, we want everyone who is around us to be happy, we all want to live a stress-free life where each and every single one of us remains happy forever. And that is something which is simply not possible.

The declaration of independence for the very country that we live in states: life, liberty, justice and pursuit of happiness — that each and every single person is free to pursue the happiness or whatever makes him happy in life. But the problem is that this world itself was Darul Fana. It was never meant to be a place of happiness. It was never meant to be an eternal abode.

Because happiness is something which is directly in sync with permanence. That is why the rule of thumb states: when you are happy or when you are sad, just think of one thought — if you are happy, you will become sad, and if you are sad, you will become happy. What is that thought? This time will also pass. So it is short-lived. Everything here is temporary. None of us will ever be able to attain the eternal happiness that we seek.

That is why the poet says:

What is the problem with this world? He says: مَا لِي أَرَى نَاسًا وَلَا أَنِيسَا — that I see shells of human beings. They do apparently look like human beings, and you can call them insan, but they are not anis. They are not happy with their life. They are just mere shells of human beings. They do smile on the surface, but the smile is not on the inside.

Then he says: لَا أَرَى حَسِيسَا — they do not feel anything. And this is something that we frequently complain of: "I feel like I am dead on the inside, I do not feel anything. When something of happiness happens, I do not feel happy. When something which should cause me deep grief occurs, I am not sad about it anymore." And the reason for that is that the thing we are pursuing was never the matlub. The insan was never meant to go after eternal happiness or to seek happiness for its own sake. If you were to remain focused and obedient to Allah, following the sunnah of Rasulullah ﷺ, happiness will find you.

The Promise of a Beautiful Life

Allah says that the ones who believe, and then after believing in Allah, they indulge in good actions — what is the promise being made by Allah? Indeed, verily they will be given a beautiful life by Allah in this world. Time and again this has been explained and clarified: a beautiful life does not mean good cars and good homes and a lot of money, a hefty bank balance. That is not what it means. It means that Allah will give you a tranquil and peaceful life. A life in which you will be content with Allah.

That is why the example of the Sahabah, رِضوَانُ اللهِ تَعَالَى عَلَيهِم أَجمَعِين, was given in this very world:

That Allah is happy with them and they are also happy in the decree of Allah. رَضِينَا بِقَضَاءِ اللهِ وَقَدَرِه — we are happy with the decree of Allah.

It is mentioned time and again — the story most of you are familiar with. When the son of Rasulullah ﷺ passed away, the eyes of Rasulullah became teary. The Sahabah who were sitting around him said: يَا رَسُولَ اللهِ مَا هَذَا؟ — "What is this? Are you not happy with the decree of Allah?" He replied: "This is just an expression of grief."

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1303)

"We are happy with the decree of Allah. Yes, the eyes are heavy, they are teary, they are tearing up. And the heart is heavy with grief. But the tongue will only utter what makes Allah happy and what causes the pleasure of Allah." They did not throw their hands up and say, "Why me? Why does this keep happening to me?"

Lost on the Way Back

The problem is we are so far away from the path that, at times, the things that were meant to make complete sense to us do not make sense to us anymore. That is why the poet says in Urdu:

"Muddat hui sayyad ne chhura bhi tukya — raah-e-chaman yaad nahi." — That the person who captured me has kept me in imprisonment for such a long period of time that now that he has freed me, I have forgotten the way back to the garden. I do not know how to live free anymore.

And that is how it is — because the pursuit of happiness is such a junoon, such a craze that overtakes us, that we go looking for it and try finding it in different places, and we do not find it anywhere. Eventually, the path leads us back towards Allah. Why do you think that Allah time and again reminds us in the Qur'an:

Return back to Allah. Do not go there — that is the path of Shaytan. It is the path of obsession.

The Screen and the Emptiness Within

That is the reason why we see this disturbing pattern everywhere — where people try to engage themselves or hide behind a screen, looking for that split moment of happiness they get from those short videos. Whether they may be on TikTok or any other social media platform — research shows that it gives you that short-lived happiness. That short funny video that you see will give you that short-lived happiness, but then after that is a complete downward spiral.

And that is what our children are growing up seeing, and that is what they adore, and that is what they want to be eventually. This is the story of each and every single house — that we handed the screen over to them and we told them, in a way when you are giving something and you are giving them complete control of it, you are in a way giving them the message that this is the life we want you to lead. It is completely okay to be this way. Hence, hidden behind the screen, no feelings and emotions whatsoever with the real world. No human connection whatsoever. You are being introduced to the world through a screen. And that is what leads to the depression. You will search for the happiness and the contentment, but you will not find it.

And that is why Allah time and again brings us back. Ya Ibadallah — all the slaves of Allah, return back towards Allah. Each and every single concern and worry of yours, you will find the answer in the deen of Allah, in following the commandments of Allah, the sunnah of Rasulullah ﷺ — provided you are genuinely searching for the right path and you genuinely want to please Allah.

This World Was Never Meant to Be Perfect

Many a time people do say: "I try to fulfil all the obligations that are upon me. I try to pray my five daily prayers. I try to give out my zakat on an annual basis. I fast during the month of Ramadan. Why do bad things keep happening to me?" The question stems from a misconception that this world was meant to be a perfect place.

And if you were to make a comparison of your life with the life of Rasulullah ﷺ, the answer is clearly embedded in there. Because the best of the creation of Allah — أَنَا سَيِّدُ وُلدِ آدَمَ وَلَا فَخر — the best of the creation of Allah, did he live a happy life? He was content with the decree of Allah, but from the very beginning of his life, he had not even come into this world and his father had already passed away. At the age of six, his mother passed away. At the age of seven or eight, his grandfather passed away. Then his uncle Abu Talib passed away. Then Khadijah radiyallahu anha, his beloved wife, she passed away.

So long as Abu Talib was alive, the kuffar and the mushrikin of Mecca did not dare harm Rasulullah ﷺ. The moment he passed away — that is why Khadijah radiyallahu anha and Abu Talib both passed away in the same year. That year is known as Aam al-Huzn — the year of grief. Because after that, the mental and physical torture of the mushrikin and the kuffar of Mecca was directed towards Rasulullah ﷺ. Before that, he was protected.

So even he did not live a happy life — the happiness, the short-lived happiness that we think is happiness. He was more deserving of living that life. If Allah did not give it to him, we are definitely not going to get the full worldly life we expect. This world was never meant to be a perfect place. It is a world which is going to end — Darul Fana. And everything in this world on the face of this earth is going to end.

The life you are after is meant to be the perfect place — and that is the eternal abode of the human being.

The Book of Deeds on the Day of Qiyamah

The things we need to focus on are the things which are going to please Allah — so that on the Day of Qiyamah, when we stand in front of Allah, we will be amongst those:

The ones who are given their book of deeds in their right hand, and they will go around as if holding a certificate, showing it to each and every single person they find — "Look, look at my book of deeds, read it!" On the other side you have:

The ones who are given their book of deeds in their left hand — "I wish I was dust. There was no existence of me left whatsoever." Can you imagine saying something like that? Yes, we live in this world with all the stress, worry, and tension — yet we love living. The most feared thing on the face of this planet is death itself. But on that day you will be seeking that death. "I wish I had never existed. I wish I could turn to dust."

We ask Allah to give us the tawfiq to focus on the permanent and the eternal and the thing which will last with us forever — and that is the relationship with Allah and our amal al-hasana.

أَقُولُ قَولِي هَذَا وَأَستَغفِرُ اللهَ لِي وَلَكُم وَلِسَائِرِ المُسلِمِين، فَاستَغفِرُوهُ إِنَّهُ هُوَ الغَفُورُ الرَّحِيم

Second Khutbah

الحَمدُ للهِ وَحدَه، وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى مَن لَا نَبِيَّ بَعدَه.

O people, indeed Allah has commanded you with a great matter. He began it with Himself, and then mentioned His angels who glorify Him in His holiness, and thirdly He addressed you, O believers, from among His creation of jinn and mankind. He said:

The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3791)

"The most merciful of my ummah towards my ummah is Abu Bakr. The most severe of them in the matter of Allah is Umar. The most truthful of them in his shyness is Uthman. And the most judicious of them is Ali."

O slaves of Allah, may Allah have mercy upon you. Fear Allah. Indeed, Allah commands justice and good conduct and giving to relatives, and He forbids immorality and bad conduct and oppression. He admonishes you that perhaps you will be reminded.

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1987)

"Fear Allah wherever you may be. Follow up a bad deed with a good one and it will wipe it out. And treat people with good character."

Announcements

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There is a request for du'a for brother Asif Jahan Moghani who just went for open heart surgery. شَفَاهُ اللهُ وَعَافَاه — may Allah grant him a full and speedy recovery.