How to Gain Allah's Blessing & Rehma | Jumuah Khutbah | Shaykh Dr. Yasir Qadhi

How to Gain Allah's Blessing and Mercy

My dear Muslims, given the reality of our situation these days, we are in dire need, we're always in need of Allah's mercy and blessings. But especially now, we are in need of Allah's help and support. And so let us remind ourselves, how do we obtain Allah's help and support? How does Allah's nasr, how does Allah's aid come down upon us? We have to put in the effort in order to get that divine aid. So let us turn to the Qur'an, let us turn to the seerah of the Prophet ﷺ, and let us extract five principles that we need in order to obtain Allah's nasr. And of course, this is a partial list, and much more can be added.

First Principle: Rectify Your Relationship with Allah and Have Positive Thoughts

First and foremost, when you look at the seerah, you look at the incidents in the life of not just the Prophet ﷺ, but the previous Prophets, the previous ummahs. One of the most important prerequisites to get Allah's aid is that we rectify our relationship with Allah and to have positive thoughts of Allah. When you give up on Allah, when you start thinking bad thoughts about Allah, then don't be surprised when your own bankrupt thoughts are therefore the main cause of Allah not helping us and you. Turn to Allah with ikhlas and sincerity and have positive thoughts of Allah. No matter how negative the situation is, your test is to have positive thoughts of Allah. Your test is that the negative around you does not cause you internally to have negative thoughts of Allah.

Allah shows us this in the Qur'an. In the early Meccan phase, when the Prophet ﷺ began preaching and certain incidents happened, problems came. The people rejected him. He began to think negative thoughts. This was early in the message. He was excused for this. And so Allah revealed to him to eliminate those negative thoughts. Surat ad-Duha, Surat ash-Sharh. All of these surahs came down to eliminate negativity internally.

And Allah mentions in the Qur'an that when the sahaba were surrounded by the Quraysh in the battle of Ahzab, the battle of Khandaq, some of the sahaba began to have negative thoughts. And Allah reassures them. And Allah eliminates those thoughts. Allah says, when you saw the people surrounding you, and your hearts began to palpitate. And in fact, Allah says:

Your hearts entered your throats. You know, when you're really nervous, it's as if you feel your heart. And Allah says:

You began to think negative thoughts of Allah.

This was the test of the believers. Notice, what was the test? The test, no matter what's happening outside, you must think positive. And this is why, yes, it is natural. If you have some weak iman, it is natural, thoughts will come. You have to fight those thoughts. This is what Allah is saying. You have to cleanse those thoughts of Allah.

And that's why Allah praises, in the same surah, the same page, some people became nervous. And Allah says, this was your test. And other people, what was their reaction? Allah says:

When the true people of iman, they saw the armies, when they saw all that negative, what did they do? The believers said, "This is what Allah and His Messenger promised us, and Allah and His Messenger spoke the truth." And instead of feeling negative, Allah says, their iman and their Islam increased.

So, when you see the negative media, when you see the politicians speaking about us, when you see all of this social media campaign against us, political campaign against us, wallahi my dear brothers and sisters, what we are facing is a fraction, an exponential fraction of what the sahaba faced. Are we failing that test or are we passing that test? Have you lost trust in Allah because of the slightest words that come from a politician's mouth? Because of the slightest campaigns, they're just yelling and shouting outside our masjid. Alhamdulillah, there's no actual persecution. Alhamdulillah, there's no blood that has been shed. Alhamdulillah, Allah is protecting us. So, our trials are a minuscule fraction. Are you failing that small trial already? No, point number one, cleanse your thoughts. Have positive thoughts of Allah. Put your trust in Allah. Have husn al-dhann. Allah will help us.

Second Principle: Increase Your Worship During Times of Difficulty

Point number two, in times of difficulty, in times of increased anti-Muslim bigotry, in times of hatred against the ummah, the seerah teaches us, whenever that happens, there should be a difference in your own rituals with Allah. There should not be a same. You cannot maintain the same level. When you realize you need Allah's help, your own actions, your own akhlaq, your own ibadat have to increase. And we see this in every major incident in the seerah. That the Prophet ﷺ, even though he is the highest of the high, the best of the best, yet when the going gets tough, his own rituals, his own dua, his own dhikr, his own sadaqah, his own taqwa, even though he is the highest of the high. But at times of difficulty, we see a palpable difference. Every major incident in the seerah, and we see increased tahajjud during times of difficulty, increased dua, increased dhikr.

And this is what the Qur'an itself tells us. When the going gets tough, the tough turn to Allah. So that Allah helps them. Allah says in the Qur'an:

When you meet those on the battlefield, what should you do? Be firm. Don't be cowards. Be firm and start doing dhikr a lot. If you wanna be successful, you wanna win any type of intellectual physical battle, Allah says, increase your dhikr when you are in that state of mind.

And our Prophet ﷺ said in a hadith:

(Sahih Muslim)

Worshipping Allah during times of chaos. Haraj means complete chaos. We are not facing haraj yet. We are facing one one millionth of haraj. Haraj is what happened to our brothers and sisters in Gaza. Haraj is what happened in the civil wars in the time of Islam. Haraj is so many other. We are not facing that yet. But what did the Prophet ﷺ say? Ibadah in the times of chaos is the same as making hijrah to me. Meaning, when you are making hijrah to the Prophet ﷺ, you are in safety, you are in security. The world is in chaos. You are going to be in Medina with the Prophet ﷺ. What will be your fortress of protection? Worshipping Allah during times of chaos. This increases our blessings. It increases our fortification. We will be divinely protected. So when the going gets tough, the tough lower their knees and their heads to Allah. Increase your rituals. Increase your dhikr. Increase your Quran. Increase all acts of good so that Allah will help you.

Third Principle: Muslim Unity

Point number three of how to obtain Allah's blessings and Allah's victory. The Quran is explicit and the seerah is explicit. Muslim unity. Allah compares and contrasts the battle of Badr with the battle of Uhud. Badr, the Muslims were few but they won. Uhud, the Muslims were many and they lost. Why? Literally the Quran contrasts and mentions one primary factor. In Badr:

Don't divide amongst yourselves. If you do so, you will fail. And your spirit and optimism will be destroyed. In Badr, they were united. The Ansar, the Muhajirun, there was no difference amongst them. They grouped together like one. They were under one banner. They united 100%. And because of that unity, Allah blessed them. In Uhud, what happened?

When you lost your resolve and you began bickering amongst yourselves, you began fighting amongst yourselves. In Uhud, that's what happened. A group of the hypocrites divided away. And there was mass chaos and confusion about what to do. And so division, disunity is one of the main causes that Allah's victory will not come.

O Muslims, now is not the time to be divided amongst any lines. Unfortunately, division is rampant amongst us. We have divisions that are pure jahiliyyah such as ethnic and nation state and nationality divisions. These are absolutely haram. We are allowed to embrace our culture. We are not allowed to divide based upon our culture. Be happy about your culture, your cuisine, your language. Never use it to look down at people of other languages and cultures. We are one ummah. Doesn't matter what our passport, our nationality is. It doesn't matter where your ancestors were born. We are one ummah. That division is un-Islamic and haram.

Other divisions are normal, political divisions, divisions of idea. How do we move forward? That is normal. It's okay to have those different understandings, but do not use those differences to divide us. This requires maturity. In the battle of Badr, there was back and forth, then they united one tactic. In the battle of Uhud, there was back and forth, and they divided two or three tactics. That was the problem. It's okay to come together and debate. It's okay to have differences of opinion. It's okay to have our understandings, how should we move forward. But once the community makes the decision, once we are moving forward, khalas, we must be united as one.

There are many projects, people are debating, should we have done it, should we not have done it. It's fine to have that debate. It's fine to understand, maybe this was wise, maybe this wasn't wise. Once we are together and we are moving forward, that should just be talk and not actual division. We need to mature up and understand, differences in political methodologies should not lead to differences in the heart.

And then another type of division, which is the most sensitive, and I've spoken about that in many lectures, and I will continue to do so. It is the most awkward division amongst us. It is the division of our sects, and our groups, and our firaq. This is the most awkward division. And I have given longer talks about this. But I say categorically, that to take the differences between us as being the biggest end all and be all, to take the differences within our strands of Islam, and make that the ultimate goal, is a sign of immaturity, and yes, I will say it, foolishness.

The people outside of our religion do not care what label your family gives to its interpretation of Islam. They don't care whether you're Sufi or Salafi, whether you're Deobandi or Barelvi, and yes, I will say it, whether you're Sunni or Shi'i. They do not care. They have made us one. Unfortunately amongst ourselves, these labels have become more important than the label of Islam. And that is a failure on our part. We need to have a level of maturity, and a level of discourse, where even if there are major differences, still we are one family. Just like if an uncle or cousin does something wrong or bad, in the end of the day, he's still your uncle and cousin.

Unity and Maturity in the Ummah

Still there must be levels of coming together for family. When the outsider wants to eliminate somebody of your family, they cannot and should not use internal family politics for their agenda. But unfortunately many of us, we are still thinking along those sectarian lines. And this is not the way of the ummah of the Prophet ﷺ. What unites us is far more than what divides us. And we have to have a level of maturity, where we can agree to disagree with civility, agree to disagree while we still come together for the bigger projects. This needs to be done. And if we will not do so, well then, who else can we blame other than ourselves?

The Fourth Point: Action and Effort

The fourth point that will gain us Allah's blessings and mercy. The fourth point, the first three were spiritual intellectual. The fourth and fifth are material. Allah's blessings do not come simply by praying and begging for them. Allah helps those who help themselves. Allah blesses those who work and strive to attain Allah's blessings. Allah's blessings do not come when you just sit back and you expect Allah to have miracles done. Even miracles require effort. Even miracles require effort.

Even the biggest miracles of all, whether it was splitting the Red Sea, whether it was Maryam being fed from the tree, there was physical effort to put in. Shake the tree, then Allah will cause the fruits to fall. Hit the ocean with your staff, then Allah will have the miracle. You have to put in the effort. You have to flee the armies of Pharaoh. You have to put your trust in Allah, something will happen. You have to reach the end of all options, then you say, O Allah, I still need your help. And then the miracle might happen.

But to sit at home, to sit in your masjid, and to raise your hand and say, O Allah, miracle, O Allah, miracle. That's not how miracles happen. That's not how Allah's aid comes. Allah wants us to put in all the effort that is reasonable, that is logical, that is logistical.

Lessons from the Seerah

The entirety of the seerah teaches us this. Never once, not once, did the Prophet ﷺ simply retreat and pray tahajjud and do nothing else. No. Yes, you pray tahajjud. Yes, you make dhikr. Yes, you make dua. Then what? In Mecca, you go knocking on doors, you go preaching to people, you go speaking to the caravans, you go to Dar al-Nadwa, which is their parliament, and you challenge them directly. That's what you do. In Medina, when the tactics change, the strategy changes, you have other things you can do. Whatever the context allows you to do, you do it.

And Allah says in the Quran:

Prepare for them whatever way you can of any strength that you have. This is a general verse. Prepare with any قُوَّة that you have. What is the قُوَّة? It depends on the context and the time and the place.

Understanding Quwwah in Our Time

So in the battle of Uhud, the Prophet ﷺ said, the قُوَّة is the arrows. That's in the battle of Uhud. قُوَّة is arrows. But is قُوَّة arrows right now? No. Right now, arrows are not gonna help us. What we need now is defense of Islam. What we need now is social media قُوَّة. What we need now is to defend the reputation of our religion against attacks, the lies, the slander that is happening. That is the قُوَّة.

And that requires expertise in so many different disciplines. Whether it is media, whether it is social online presence, whether it is understanding the arguments that they have and refuting them, whether it is getting involved in the political system. All of these are types of قُوَّة that we have to take advantage of. And if we don't do so, Allah's help will not come to us at all.

The Fifth Point: Financial Support

And the fifth and final point that I will mention, and much more can be said, is that one of the main aspects that our community needs to realize is that point number four, the قُوَّة, it requires finances and money. And if we do not donate and raise funds, and rethink through what it means to spend for the way of Allah, because here's our problem, for the bulk of our lives, we have literally associated charity and sadaqah and zakah with poor people, hungry people, orphans. But the Qur'an has multiple categories. The Qur'an has eight categories just for zakah. And throughout all of history, in order to help the ummah, in order to bring about civilizational strength and growth, you need money. That's how the world operates.

The Example of Abu Bakr As-Siddiq

That's why the Prophet ﷺ said towards the end of his life, when he was about to pass away, he was praising Abu Bakr as-Siddiq r.a. And he praised him in so many ways. One of the things he said, nobody's wealth benefited me as much as the wealth of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq. Wealth benefit the Prophet ﷺ. I couldn't have done what I did if Allah didn't bless me with Abu Bakr as-Siddiq, who helped me with this, this, this, and he helped me with money. Literally helping with money. Abu Bakr as-Siddiq...

And by the way, this is the interesting point. Maybe in terms of quantity, maybe Uthman and others gave more. But it's not quantity. It's understanding things need to be done. Small amounts that people might not recognize in the incident of the hijrah. Who gifted the Prophet ﷺ a camel? They realized, he realized, Abu Bakr realized he needs a camel. Without asking, without getting any type of authorization, he knows what needs to be done. He goes and he purchases a camel. And then he says, Ya Rasulullah, this is yours. Now the Prophet ﷺ insists, I'm gonna pay you for it. He didn't allow that gift. But Abu Bakr wanted to gift him. And that was the camel that the Prophet ﷺ used to migrate. A thousand other small incidents like this.

The Example of Uthman ibn Affan

We need to realize, sadaqah and yes, even zakat has other categories. In the seerah, what did the Prophet ﷺ say about Uthman ibn Affan? Uthman ibn Affan, what is he famous for? So many incidents, the majority of which involve money. Uthman radiallahu anhu, he was a great sahabi, but he wasn't known for the swordsmanship. He wasn't known to have a physically big body. He wasn't a poet. What did he do? He financed. Things that no other sahabi could finance.

The entire Tabuk expedition, Uthman ibn Affan came and brought his entire savings through it in front of the Prophet ﷺ. Said, ya Allah, this is yours, ya Rasulullah. All for the sake of Allah. And the Prophet ﷺ looked at all of that money, that gold, he goes, Wallahi, ya Uthman, no matter what you do after today, Allah will forgive you. This is your Jannah.

It wasn't the only thing. When the Muslims didn't have water, when they moved to Medina, Uthman radiallahu anhu purchased the most largest well. And he could have charged money, he gave it fi sabirillah. When the masjid needed to be expanded, the sahaba didn't have money, Uthman donated to expand the masjid. I can go on and on and on. When the entire city of Medina was facing that drought, it is called the year of the drought. Uthman single-handedly, radiallahu ta'ala anhu, fed the entire people of Medina without any pay.

A Message to Our Youth

In order for Islam to flourish, you need to spend money for the sake of Islam. And that's why I have a halaqa for our youth. When the youth said, what should we do, what should we do for the sake of Islam? I said, the default that I wanna see from you, you excel in deen and dunya together. I want you to be successful in your careers, to open up the largest firms, become CEOs, go and do and create, go and build wealth, and be good Muslims. Because one of the ways, one of the most important ways to benefit the ummah, we need financial help for all of the projects that we do.

The Reality of Our Situation

Are we blind to the reality that the reason why this country is held hostage to foreign interest is because of money? Are we blind to this reality? The reason why this Islamophobic campaign is happening against us, our masjid is being targeted, you are being smeared and slandered, is because people are giving money in order that this happens. And in return, we are doing absolutely nothing when it comes to what they are doing. Not even a small fraction. We do not have the wealth yet. I should say we're not, we have the wealth, we're not spending it in this cause.

We need to have a shift in mindset, my dear brothers and sisters. And that shift in mindset is to understand in order to help the religion, finances, technological expertise, skills need to be dedicated to do so. This is why once upon a time, the ummah was the way that it is. That mindset unfortunately has gone for a few centuries, but now it needs to be revived.

Conclusion

O Muslims, the way to get Allah's help is very simple. Turn to Allah, increase your dhikr, purify your intentions, and then put in the effort, put in the sweat, dedicate your time, your expertise, and your wealth in order to do something. When you do so, this and only then is when Allah's blessings come. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow us to benefit with and through the Qur'an. And may He make us of those who His verses they understand and applies halal and haram throughout our lifespan. Ask Allah's forgiveness, you as well ask Him for He is the Ghafoor and the Rahman.

Current Challenges and Standing for Justice

Dear Muslims, the situation in many ways is getting better and worse at the same time. There's good and there's bad. And one incident that took place that does need to be highlighted because it affects all of us here. Yesterday, one of the senior leaders in this country, by the name of brother Salah Sarsour, I know him personally. He is one of the senior activists in Minnesota. He has been in this country for more than 40 years. Not only is he legal, he has a green card.

This is the first time they're doing this now. I said this to you last year from this minbar. I said, if you do not, if we do not stop them going after visa holders, they're gonna go after green cards. And if we do not stop them there, they're gonna go after American citizens, which is what they're trying to do now with the birthright issue in the Supreme Court.

A Clear Witch Hunt

They arrested our brother Salah Sarsour. He is one of the most active, one of the most mashaAllah, well-grounded, well-connected with the politicians, mainstream American as you can get. He's been in this country 40 plus years, and he has a green card. And they accused him, I don't know the reality, something he might have done as a teenager in Palestine. Whether he did, whether he didn't do, it's not my business, I don't know. But I will say one thing, without a doubt, this is a witch hunt. Without a doubt, this is meant to send a message.

Because whatever he did or didn't do, as a teenager under occupied Gaza, occupied apartheid regime of Israel, without a doubt, when the Israeli forces do what they do, they're welcome to this country in open arms. When IDF soldiers are allowed to have dual citizenship, when you can legally kill Palestinians, and then come back to this country and be welcome with open arms, then you're gonna say, maybe as a teenager, I don't know, he threw a stone, something like this. Without a doubt, this is a witch hunt. And it is meant to silence all of us.

The Power of Legal Action

But here's the point, we have seen that alhamdulillah, there are many, many good people in this country who want to live up to their constitution. When you go to court, you challenge them. When you apply the law, when you spend effort and money, you see the results. You can't just sit back and let them do this. We see alhamdulillah, every single student that was arrested, every student that was arrested illegally, detained because they're talking about Palestine. Yes, they went through some issues in the jail, but eventually they were let go. Alhamdulillah, by and large, eventually they were let go, alhamdulillah.

We've seen last week or two weeks ago, our governor attempted to ban any help to Muslim schools and only Muslim schools. The bill that allows parents in Texas to get a stipend from the government if they send their kid to any private school. We pay taxes to the government for our schools.