One Ummah, One Body: Sharing Joys And Sorrows

Unity of the Ummah — Rejoicing and Grieving Together

We are all part of one ummah, the one ummah of Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم. And we are part of this ummah because we all said the kalimah, لَا إِلٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ — that we disassociated any partners to Allah and we said that Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم is our messenger.

And now we are under the banner of Islam. And as part of being an ummah, we rejoice together. And part of being an ummah is that we grieve together as well.

And this is seen in the hadith of Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم where he said that all the believers, all the muslimoon, they are all like one body, one single person. That if a person's eye is hurting, then he can't sleep, he can't think — his entire body hurts. And if his head is hurting, then he can't eat, he can't drink, he can't sleep properly, he can't think properly, he can't walk properly. His entire body is hurt by it.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6011; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2586)

Just like that, if one part of the ummah is going through any difficulty, if they are going through any hardship, then the entire ummah feels it — the entire ummah is hurting. They are standing up in the middle of the night, awake as well, praying for them, making du'a for them, hoping for their calamity to be uplifted.

But the opposite of this is also true. That whenever the ummah is going through any kind of excitement, or joy, or rejoicing, then the entire ummah should also be happy.

The Example of Ibn Abbas — Happiness in the Happiness of Others

This is seen in the narration of Ibn Abbas رضي الله عنه, where once a man was rebuking and ridiculing him. So Ibn Abbas رضي الله عنه told him:

"You are rebuking me, but I have three good qualities in myself."

The first one was:

Ibn Abbas رضي الله عنه was the Mufassir ul-Ummah — the person with the most knowledge of the Qur'an in the entire Ummah. And he is saying: "I come across an ayah of the Qur'an, and I would love that every single person was able to understand and get the benefit from this ayah as I have learned." The person who knows the most about the Qur'an is wishing that every single person was able to feel the amazing feeling of understanding the Qur'an the way he does. He wants the general benefit of the Ummah in his mind.

The second thing he said:

"I hear that there is a ruler amongst the Muslim rulers, and he is being just in his ruling. And I am happy by this, even though he is not ruling in my court, he is not ruling in my case — but I am still happy because my Muslim brother is being treated justly."

And the last thing he said:

"I hear that there is some place in the world where rain is pouring — the nourishment of Allah, the mercy of Allah, is descending there. And I am happy by this, even though I have no cattle there, I have no animals there, I have no physical reason to be happy — but I am happy that my Muslim brother is happy."

So we see that Ibn Abbas رضي الله عنه found his happiness in the happiness of his Muslim brothers. If they were happy, then he was happy as well. So just like that, we should be happy as well — if we see any kind of happiness in the ummah, then we should also feel happy.

Gratitude for Ease — Do Not Be Ungrateful

Many of us have seen over the past days the different initiatives that have been taken to hopefully end the genocide that has been happening in Gaza, and we see that there is some ease coming there. And we ask Allah that He make it a means of more doors being opened. This is a time of happiness — that maybe some people will be released from the prisons, that maybe they will be able to go back to their homes and rebuild and start living life again. So we should have happiness for them.

But one of the most important things is that we do not be ungrateful during these times. If we are ungrateful, then Allah can easily take it away. We should not say: "Why didn't more happen? Why did it happen in the first place? Why isn't there more peace being brought down there?" We see in the Qur'an that Sulaiman عليه السلام said:

The purpose of Allah sending these blessings down upon the people is to test them — to see if they will be grateful or ungrateful. If they are ungrateful, He can easily take it away. But if someone is grateful:

If someone is grateful, then Allah will increase them. So if we want more peace, if we want more happiness, then we must make more shukr to Allah.

With Every Difficulty Comes Ease — Surah al-Sharh

And this is the promise of Allah. He says in the Qur'an in Surah Alam Nashrah:

"Indeed with difficulty comes ease. Indeed with difficulty comes ease." And there is a subtle point in this which is mentioned in the principle of Arabic grammar: المَعْرِفَةُ إِذَا أُعِيدَتْ مَعْرِفَةً كَانَتِ الثَّانِيَةُ عَيْنَ الْأُولَى، وَالنَّكِرَةُ إِذَا أُعِيدَتْ نَكِرَةً كَانَتِ الثَّانِيَةُ غَيْرَ الْأُولَى.

A ma'rifa — a definite word — is a word like "the book," "the house," "the calamity." In Arabic it is denoted by alif-lam. So الْعُسْرِ — "the difficulty" — is mentioned with alif-lam both times, referring to the same difficulty. But يُسْرًا — "ease" — has no alif-lam, so it is a nakira, an indefinite word. When an indefinite word is repeated, the second one refers to something different from the first. Therefore, with one difficulty there are two eases.

And it is mentioned in a poem:

Whenever difficulty or calamity afflicts a people, we should ponder upon these verses of Alam Nashrah — for with one difficulty come two eases. So when we think about this, we should be happy, we should rejoice. Even if we are in difficulty right now, we should have hope in Allah that He will remove this difficulty, He will uplift the calamity that is occurring.

The Life of the Prophet — Hardship Followed by Divine Honor

We see this in the life of Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم as well — whenever a difficulty came, there was always a moment of ease, a period of better ease. Look at the first nine years of Nabi's صلى الله عليه وسلم prophethood — it was only difficulty, only hardship and torture from the Meccan polytheists. Then in the tenth year came the Year of Sorrow, where Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم lost the two people who were most important to him — the two people who, during all this difficulty and hardship, were his rock, who were standing by him, comforting him and protecting him. First was Khadijah رضي الله عنها, his beloved wife, and second was Abu Talib, his uncle. And they passed away.

It didn't stop there. After that he went to Ta'if looking for some sort of solace, some sort of support from the people, but he was met with utter rejection — they completely rejected him and they stoned him out of the city. So it looked like Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم had hit rock bottom, that he was completely defeated.

But it was during these difficulties that Allah granted him the divine blessing, the divine gift of Isra and Mi'raj. Jibreel عليه السلام mounted Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم onto the Buraq, and he was taken to Baitul Maqdis — where he met all the Anbiya عليهم السلام and he led them in Salah. What a great honor for Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم — that he as the last Prophet was able to lead every single Prophet that came before him.

After that he was elevated in Mi'raj all the way to the Arsh of Allah — another great honor. On the way he met different Prophets: Musa عليه السلام, Isa عليه السلام, Yusuf عليه السلام. And then he saw many different things — he saw Sidratul Muntaha, he saw Jannah, he saw Jahannam, he saw the Pens, he heard the Pens writing the destiny. All these different blessings that he was given. And the greatest of them all was when he was raised to the Arsh of Allah, where no angel was able to go, and he had a direct one-on-one conversation with Allah:

The Three Gifts of the Night of Mi'raj

This could have been it — this was enough honor for Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم. But Allah did not send him home empty-handed. He gave him three gifts:

The first was the five daily salawat — that if you pray five you get the reward of fifty. This is a direct connection; whenever someone wants something they can pray to Allah. No other nation had this honor, had this gift, but the nation of Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم was given it.

The second gift was the ending verses of Surah al-Baqarah, which talk about mercy, which talk about ease, affection, forgiveness, and most importantly talk about the help and assistance of Allah for the victory of the Muslims against the disbelievers.

And lastly, the third gift was the promise of Allah that the major sins of any person who does not commit shirk to Allah will be forgiven — meaning that if a person says the kalimah, does not associate partners with Allah, then no matter what, one day he will enter Jannah.

So these three gifts Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم was given. After all the difficulty he went through, nothing compared to the amount of honor he was given on that day. And we see that during the difficult times he was patient, and when he was given glad tidings and good times, then he was thankful to Allah.

The State of the Believer — Gratitude and Patience

And this is the state of the believer:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2999)

How amazing is the state of the Muslim — every single matter of his is good, and this is only for a believer. He is given this gift that all his matters are good: if a good condition comes his way, then he is thankful to Allah and this is the best thing for him; and if a calamity comes his way, then he is patient and this is also the best thing for him.

So as believers we must make sure that whatever comes our way, we are thankful to Allah, because at the end of the day it is the decree of Allah. We must look into ourselves — yes, over the past 15 months or so we might have prayed so much tahajjud, we might have made so much du'a to Allah and cried. But now when a little ease comes, this doesn't mean we give it all up and leave it all. Rather, now we must make sure to continue what we are doing, the a'mal we are doing, and increase in our gratitude towards Allah.

It is said that Allah loves the person who always makes du'a to Him, who always calls out to Him — so He recognizes his voice. So always make shukr to Allah for all the good things He has given us.

How to Anchor Our Gratitude

How do we bring this shukr into our life? How do we make sure that we are consistent with this? This is the hardest thing — whenever difficulty comes it is easy to make du'a to Allah, but when ease comes we always forget. The insaan always forgets everything.

So one thing we can do is anchor our shukr to something we are already doing. Insha'Allah we are all praying our salah. So let us say — after Fajr salah, after Isha salah, after whatever salah we can — we think of five blessings of Allah, five ni'am of Allah that He has given us, and we thank Allah for these things. And insha'Allah if we keep doing this on a consistent basis, it will become a norm for us to thank Allah and think about the blessings He has given us. And after every salah we do our Alhamdulillah 33 times.

And the most important thing is not to become like the mushrikeen that are mentioned in the Qur'an — those who during the difficult times call towards Allah, saying: "O Allah, if you save us from this calamity, then we will definitely be from the shakireen — we will thank you, we will believe in you." But what did they do? As soon as Allah saved them, they turned back to their old ways and caused fasad, caused corruption across the entire world.

So whenever Allah gives us good, we should not return back to our old ways. And even if we used to make a lot of du'a during these times and we don't get that same feeling now — we should still sit there for 20 minutes and say: "Allah, I am trying, I am trying to do what I used to do — make it easy for me."

Shukr Is Taqwa and Righteous Action

The essence of shukr is taqwa and amal as-salih — fearing Allah, recognizing that Allah is there, and good actions. Shukr is not only from our mouths. Yes, saying Alhamdulillah is one part of it — one part of it is saying Alhamdulillah and thanking Allah. But another part, which may be even more important, is our actions.

Shukr for our eyes towards Allah is not looking at haram. Shukr for our feet is not walking towards haram. Shukr for our ears is not listening to haram. Doing shukr towards Allah is obeying Him — that whatever Allah has told us to do, us obeying Him is being thankful for those blessings that He has given us.

Closing Du'a

So I ask Allah that, number one, He allows us to always continue the different actions we are doing — that during the times of difficulty we have sabr, and during the times of ease we thank Allah for the different blessings He has given us. And may Allah continue to open the doors of peace and tranquility for the people who are suffering across the entire world. Ameen.

Wa akhiru da'wana alhamdulillahi rabbil 'alamin.

Announcements

Insha'Allah, a few announcements. Please pass the donation boxes from left to right and donate generously. You can also use the kiosk in the lobby. Sadaqah wards off calamities and draws in the mercy of Allah. Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم said that charity given on the day of Jumu'ah is greater in reward than any other day.

Please join us for our monthly seminar: Al-Isra wal Mi'raj — The Night Ascension and Journey, by Maulana Abdul Basit. This is an evening exploring the journey of Al-Mi'raj — when Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم traveled from Mecca to Jerusalem and ascended to the seven heavens. It reflects on its spiritual lessons including divine mercy, perseverance, and the significance of Al-Aqsa in Islamic history.

There is also the weekly online Sisters' Tafsir, every Thursday from 1:30 PM to 2:45 PM, held in the Sisters' Prayer Hall.

Also this week insha'Allah, the Tafheem and Ta'aleem programs will continue. This is something that we should make shukr to Allah for — especially here in Chicago, He has given us so many ulama, and one way of making shukr to Allah is by utilizing them and gaining as much benefit as we can from them. Alhamdulillah, the Tafheem program is on-site only on the weekends, and the Ta'aleem program is online only. And this year, for the first time in 11 years, we are having separate sisters' ulama — alima — who are going to teach the sisters' side insha'Allah. So this is a way to make shukr to Allah by making sure we take part in these programs and benefit from them as much as we can.

The Sisters' Series — exclusively for the sisters of all ages — delves into the life of our most beloved Prophet, Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم. The talk will insha'Allah begin immediately after Dhuhr Salat at 1:30 PM, followed by dhikr and du'a, with light refreshments. The next session is January 26th from 1:30 to 3:15 PM.

Save the date for the No-Tech Retreat, which is going to be February 8th and 9th. You can register at masjidds.org/unplugged.

Our weekly programs will also continue: Team Fajr starting tomorrow at the Fajr Salat at 6:15 AM; Tuesday Tafsir will continue with Surah al-Ahqaf with Mufti Azimuddin; the weekly Urdu Seerah program will be Thursday after Isha; and the Sisters' Urdu Thursday Tafsir will continue after Dhuhr insha'Allah.

And please make du'a for all the Muslim people across the entire world for their ease and comfort. Insha'Allah, there are calendars being passed out at the bookstall outside. Also, there are some important books available for purchase outside as well. Jazakumullah Khayran.