Patience And Perspective: A Believer's Response To Life's Trials

Opening Du'a

Respected friends, elders and brothers, dear mothers and sisters and students — السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

The Believer's Perspective: Looking Beyond the Immediate

We learn from the very get-go as a believer that every aspect of our life — Islam and Iman — penetrates the deepest parts of our life and controls how we respond and react. The way a believer responds to a situation is vastly different from a disbeliever, because a believer knows that this is not the end-all. There is something beyond that.

That is why when a believer is tempted by wealth or tempted by some other lustful thing, he will always think in the long term — how will this reflect in my future? What will be the end result of this? What will be the aqiba and the ending of this?

On the other hand, a disbeliever doesn't have belief in the hereafter. Hence every single thing is about enjoying it in the moment. So if someone angers him, he says: why should I not get angry? If someone disrespects him: why should I not defend myself and be disrespectful back? Why should I not avenge myself immediately and even in a harsher manner?

We have been asked not to do that. Allah says:

If you have been abused, if you have been pushed, if you have been punished, if you have been mistreated — فَعَاقِبُوا بِمِثْلِ مَا عُوقِبْتُم بِهِ — then avenge yourself only in the amount that the first oppression took place. Don't do more than that. وَلَئِن صَبَرْتُمْ — even if you are patient, try to give up and not avenge yourself at all. That is going to be better for those who are patient.

Why would you do that? Only a believer would do that. Only a believer would say: fine, I'm going to give up my right, I'm going to give up my desire to avenge myself.

And what is the background of this? When Rasulullah's uncle Hamza was martyred and his body was mutilated — the Prophet was so grieved by seeing him, his body was beyond recognition, it was mutilated to such a degree — and then the Prophet, out of extreme pain, said: for this one shaheed I am going to avenge him with 70 of them.

This is not outside a battle — this is in the thick of battle. And so Allah reveals these verses. And this is one of the most amazing verses that actually solidifies the belief in everyone — that Muhammad ﷺ is not but a Prophet. If he were to be writing his own Quran, why would he reveal a verse like this? Why would he have a verse in it that is telling him that you cannot do this? This should not be your desire — to say that my uncle has been killed and now I am going to take 70 of them.

So Allah is saying: if you want to avenge yourself, then you have to do equivalent to how much the initial harm was, and if you are patient it will be better for you. Nabi ﷺ is being told at this time to even remain patient.

People say, "Brother, you keep on telling people — sabr, sabr, sabr — you don't know what I'm going through." Do we not hear that? "You don't know what I'm going through." We talk about sabr. Can we think about the pain that Rasulullah ﷺ was going through? Not just the fact that Hamza was his uncle, but the fact that he was one of his greatest supporters — a pillar of the da'wa of Rasulullah ﷺ — and that he wasn't just taken away or killed, he was so brutally murdered, and in the middle of battle. Yet Allah says: if you are patient, it is better.

Iman Regulates Every Aspect of Our Life

Now, the reason we are saying this is: how is this connected to a person's iman? Faith and iman is something that regulates every action and every movement of ours. It is the faith that ensures that our gaze is focused only on what we are supposed to, and not beyond that. It is the faith that ensures that when we have an opportunity to make a lot of extra money but it is through unlawful means, we say no. It is our faith that when we have the opportunity to deceive someone and thereby be able to get a big position — a big political position in this world — we say no. The ends do not justify the means. What will Allah tell me? Allah is watching. No one may be watching, but Allah is watching.

That iman is what regulates every aspect of our life. And similarly, when it comes to how to handle difficulty, our iman is also extremely important. The way we respond to difficulty is different as believers. We do not just give up and say there is no hope. Nor do we resort to using material things only. Instead, as believers we use material things, but our trust is never on material things. We have full trust in Allah.

And Allah says:

Do not grieve, do not be sad — you are always going to be a'lawn, at the top, as long as you have iman.

The promises of Allah in the Quran, you will notice, are always brought with iman, not with Islam. Because Islam is about doing the external actions. Iman is the faith. A person may go ahead and do the external actions but his faith is weak. Like we are performing salah — a person doesn't even have to be a believer to be present in the masjid. How many, SubhanAllah, are cultural Muslims who show up and pray even though they don't believe in what they are doing? The mom and dad had a gathering and said, "Hey, let's go for the next prayer to the masjid," so they go along and go through the motions. They may even move their lips, but they don't believe in it. I have actually met such people, who are merely cultural Muslims — not atheists inside, but when it is convenient or better for them, they end up praying.

So externally fulfilling the commands of Allah, without a strong faith — or rather in the absence of faith — it is not going to bring Allah's help.

Allah promises the believers amongst you — لَيَسْتَخْلِفَنَّهُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ — We will give you vicegerency on this earth. We will make you a khalifa on this earth, the way Allah made khalifa the previous nations, the leaders of the previous nations. And Allah will make the deen that He has chosen for you to become dominant. And Allah is going to replace your sense of terror and fear with peace, comfort, and security.

In another place: أَنتُمُ الْأَعْلَوْنَ إِن كُنتُم مُّؤْمِنِينَ — You will always be on top, as long as you are believers. And in many other places, Allah's promises in the Quran you will find connected with what? With Iman.

And that is what we are speaking about here today — if the iman of a believer is strong, then no matter what situation he is faced with, insha'Allah he will be able to handle it.

The Fruits of Iman: A Story from the Companions

Iman is just not a claim. Iman has a thamrah. Iman has a fruit to it — it bears fruits.

And I want to share one beautiful incident. A companion came to the Prophet — or rather, the Prophet came to him — and said: "How have you woken up this morning? How was your morning?" So he responded by saying: "I woke up this morning in a state that my iman is strong. I am enjoying strong faith."

So then the Prophet asked him: "Every single claim has a proof. What is the proof to this claim that you are saying — that you are a very strong believer, that you woke up in a state of strong belief?"

So he gave three signs:

Number one, he said: my heart is disinclined from gathering all the material things of this world — just becoming an addict of the dunya. My heart is disinclined from that.

Number two: I remain thirsty during the day. I enjoy remaining thirsty during the day — meaning fasting.

Number three: I enjoy staying awake at night in worshiping Allah in tahajjud.

Three things he did as a result of the faith he had. And then Allah reciprocated those three things with three rewards right here in this world.

First, he said:

It is as though I see the throne of Allah — the throne of الرَّحْمَن — being brought forth on the Day of Judgment. I can see that scene.

Number two, he said:

It is as though I see the people of Paradise in Paradise, and I see what they are doing — they are visiting one another.

And number three, he said:

And it is as though I am not only able to see or visualize the Hellfire and the people of Hellfire within it, but it is as though I can actually hear the wailing and the screaming of the people of Hellfire.

Three things he said, and then three things that Allah gifted him with. Six things total. The Prophet ﷺ heard this and said:

Definitely, this is a believer whose heart has been enlightened. He got a certificate of iman from the Prophet ﷺ.

This was the norm within the Sahaba رضي الله عنهم — because their faith was strong, Allah allowed them to sense and see things that no one else could see, and that only increased them in their faith.

How the Quran Affects Hearts Differently

As Allah says — that when the believer hears a verse of the Quran:

Every single new revelation that would descend on the Prophet ﷺ would have completely opposite effects on certain people. Certain people — every new verse — زَادَتْهُمْ إِيمَانًا — it would increase them in their faith. Like: "Oh SubhanAllah, I knew this would happen! Look at this next verse — did you hear this? This is exactly why I believe Islam is a true religion. This is exactly why I believe Jannah and Jahannam is true."

So every verse they hear increases them in faith. وَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ فِي قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَضٌ — and those who had a sickness, a sickness of hypocrisy, a sickness of disbelief in their heart — what happens to them? فَزَادَتْهُمْ رِجْسًا إِلَىٰ رِجْسِهِمْ — every new verse actually creates within them even more hatred and more doubt about Islam. It pushes them further. وَمَاتُوا وَهُمْ كَافِرُونَ — and eventually they die in a state of complete disbelief. SubhanAllah.

The example of wahi and revelation is like rain. When rain falls, you have two different pieces of land reacting differently to that rain. That land that had already been fertilized, tilled, and had seeds placed in it long ago — it is waiting for that rain to come, for it to become within a few days completely lush and green. If the seeds of a certain crop were already placed in it, you will start seeing the crops grow as soon as that rain comes.

And on the other side, there was a barren piece of land or a jungle filled with weeds and thorns. As soon as winter ends and spring comes — what will happen when that same rain comes? That same rainfall, as it brings out fruits over here, will bring about thorns and weeds over there. The issue is not with the rain. The issue is with the land. Based on the capacity of the land, it reacts differently with the rain.

Similarly, based on the capacity of the heart, it reacts differently to revelation, and it reacts differently to the situation. Certain situations will make the believers stronger, and those same situations will make a disbeliever or a weak believer weaker. And this is what we call fitna — those conditions that come from Allah that filter out the true believers from those who are simply acting like believers when they are not. They may be going through the motions externally, but inside they are not true believers. And so when that type of difficulty comes about, some of those who are not strong will say — or those who do not have full faith in Islam will say — "I'm out. This is not for me."

Our Model: The Companions

As believers, our model is the Sahabi. Any Sahabi you pick — that is our model. To see how did they react and interact with conditions and situations.

One of the first things you see is that whatever the situation was, they would resort to salah. They would resort to du'a. Whether it was a personal situation or a bigger situation.

Nabi, alayhi salatu wa salam — SubhanAllah — if the weather changed, the Prophet ﷺ would run towards the masjid. We know this. If the weather changed, if it became stormy all of a sudden, the Prophet ﷺ would go to the masjid.

Where am I at that time? When weather gets bad, what are we doing? We have issues beyond weather right now. We have a lot of issues. To what degree am I resorting to salah? To what degree am I resorting to the masjid?

My beloved brothers and sisters, the sad part is: when someone speaks about the importance of dhikr, du'a, and salah, the knee-jerk reaction amongst many is — "Brother, how long have you been speaking about this? Why is the ummah always speaking about ibadah? We have to do action, action, action!" It is as though the one who is saying this has already spent 8 hours in tahajjud and is now fatigued from his all-nighter in front of Allah, saying, "Why are we just doing this? We gotta do something else beyond that." No.

Who are we fooling? The ummah is negligent from salah. Negligent from raising their hands in front of Allah. Instead, falling into haram all over. After doing everything we can to earn the wrath of Allah, then we say, "Brother, stop focusing on ibadah, stop focusing on du'a, stop focusing on dhikr — we need to start using the means."

Remember: if we do not have Allah with us in the equation, then Allah will back out of this battle and say, "Okay, you all handle it yourselves." And who is going to win that battle? Anyone who has got more asbab and means of this world. That is it. Allah is out of the equation when you do not have Allah's help through ibadah, through dhikr, through du'a, and abstinence from haram.

The way to attract Allah's mercy is through the sunnah of Rasulullah ﷺ. If you claim to love Allah, then follow me. This is where the revival has to happen right now — a revival of the fact that whatever I am going through, be it a nasty situation at home — a divorce, Allah forbid — or a disobedient child, or a parent or a child who has run away, financially we are struggling, or bigger issues of the ummah — when we are dealing with that, a believer cannot act the way a disbeliever does.

The reaction cannot be what everyone else does. Like we have been speaking about from the beginning: in moments of happiness, in the moment of anger, in the moment of sadness, in the moment of joy, a believer acts differently. Because we look at the big picture. We do not make a reaction based on the immediate situation, because we know this journey does not end here. There is a life of eternity after this. And so our actions will be based on the big picture — the aqiba will be based on the aajil, that which is going to come afterwards.

The Crises of the Ummah and the Manifestation of Iman

So when we have crises of the ummah all around us — one country and the next, and the next — of course nowadays it is Palestine. But while Palestine is happening, that does not mean the other atrocities have stopped. We do not speak about Kashmir or Sudan much, but SubhanAllah, that has not stopped. We do not speak about what is happening in China. We are not speaking about what is going on across the other parts of the globe.

So where does a believer stand in all of this? These situations will make a person who has faith in him become even stronger. The example of Bilal رضي الله عنه should be right in front and center for all of us — that no matter how much the oppressors beat him, it comes in stories of Sirah that they got tired of beating him, but he did not get tired of saying Ahad, Ahad, Ahad — One and only One Allah. "I don't care what you do."

Every single companion — when Abu Sufyan was asked by Negus about the Muslims, he was trying to bad-mouth the Muslims and trying to create a division and push Negus to expel the Muslims from Abyssinia. So he was speaking ill about the Muslims and Rasulullah ﷺ. Negus asked a very good question: "Those who accept Islam — how many of them, after accepting Islam, then turn their backs to it and run away?" He said: "None. When someone goes there, they don't turn back." He said: "You know what, that is a sign of its veracity and truth."

Because that is what iman is. When iman goes in — it is what Allah says: صِبْغَةَ اللَّهِ — the color of Allah. You cannot separate the color from the cloth. Either you cut the cloth into pieces and burn it, or otherwise you are going to have a cloth with that color. That is it. This is how iman is. When iman comes into a true believer, then no condition of this world will pull it out. So when you see people leaving their faith — that is because iman was not fully in. If the cap is not tight properly, it will fly off. But once iman goes deep in, into the crevices of the heart, no matter what situation comes — not only will the iman not go, it will actually become more stubborn. It will go even deeper. SubhanAllah.

That is exactly how this faith is. You see today — look at the images and the videos. What do you see? Don't watch it for the sake of just watching it, and don't watch too much, because excessively watching that will make a person numb. But once in a while, just to see the faith they have — they have not cultivated this faith in the past month. They have been cultivating that faith for years and decades. And today you are seeing the manifestation of that faith — that no matter what happens, you have got 11 dead kids from your family, and you are still saying حَسْبُنَا اللَّهُ وَنِعْمَ الْوَكِيل. You are still saying: "I consider them shaheed. I expect to meet them. I expect the reward of this from Allah."

And a person — Allahu Akbar — I saw a 5-year-old consoling one of her siblings as he is crying at the dead sibling wrapped up. And this 5-year-old is crying too, but she pulls her sibling back, wraps up the shroud, and says — while crying — "Stop it. Remember, he is shaheed. He is with Allah. Let us move on." What is that? How does a 6-year-old console an 8-year-old over the death of maybe a 10-year-old? What is that? That is a manifestation of the iman that they have cultivated for so long. And no matter how many bombs are thrown on them, and no matter how much they are tortured through all different means, you will see that their iman will never go. Instead it just increases them. It is just shocking, to see the manifestation of faith.

A person loses everything — not only the house but everyone inside it. An old mother is being consoled by her son and she just says: "We expect the reward of this from Allah. That is it. We have nothing but expectations of reward from Allah for everything we have lost." That happens through the barakah of iman. And the help of Allah will be with the people of iman.

A Call to Self-Examination

Now let us ask ourselves: where is my iman today? Is it even allowing me to leave haram? If my iman is not allowing me to give up something that I like which is haram — say, listening to music, say drinking alcohol, smoking drugs, watching haram, listening to haram, backbiting, cheating, lying, deception, being mean to my mom and dad, being mean to my spouse, being disrespectful to my elders, being unmerciful towards my youngsters — all sorts of things that we may be involved in. If my iman cannot get me out of that haram, how is it possible for me to expect the help of Allah? Because the help of Allah, we said, is not with just merely fulfilling the external obligations like salah externally. It has to be coupled with a strong, unwavering faith inside.

So for those who may think that we emphasize too much of dhikr and du'a and salah — honestly, the deep reality that every man here knows himself: although we may say "brother, we gotta do something more than prayer," we are not even doing our prayers. "We gotta do something more than du'a" — but honestly, how many minutes have you and I made du'a in this past week? How much sadaqa have you and I given in the past week? How many extra nafl prayers or qada prayers have we made up in this past week?

So when we are not doing the very basics, and then to say "brother we have to stop focusing on salah and dhikr and dua, let's focus on something realistic" — that is the issue. We are acting like the rest. We cannot act like the rest. We are people of faith and we have to respond in the way people of faith do.

If you need any guidance, just look at what is happening overseas and see — that is how the people of faith respond. The muftis are getting questions that SubhanAllah: "If I am now amputated because rubble fell on my foot, how do I make wudu? There is absolutely no water — how do I make wudu? The majority of my body is burnt — do I still do wudu or not?" Wallahi, these are the questions that are coming to the Dar al-Ifta. Not over here, but in another Dar al-Ifta — I was reading the questions from that area. That even in this situation, all they are worried about is: how are we going to pray our salah? That is faith.

So today, if we do not revive our faith in ourselves, then we must sadly say that they are victorious and we are the losers.

Let us use this occasion — mashallah, so many youth coming to the masjid, so many families here — to reflect on what we have done ourselves. Not only to assist them, but to assist ourselves. Let us make these past weeks of suffering of the Muslim ummah worthwhile — if I can call it that. Make their shahada accepted — insha'Allah Allah will already accept their shahada. But make that blood that has been spilt, and those little children who have died, allow that to become a source of revival of iman in our hearts. Say insha'Allah, allow it to force us to start coming to the masjid. Allow it to force us to start giving up our addictions. Allow it to force us to start improving our relationships with our parents, with our spouses, with our children. And say: "May Allah — I did not cultivate that iman. I would never be able to pass a test like they are going through. Do not test me like that. But please give me the faith that the people over there have."

Closing Du'a

I ask Allah to allow our masajid across the globe to fill up with musallis. Allow our masajid for Fajr and Isha to get filled up especially. Allow all of us to start leading a life of sunnah and turning our backs to haram.

All of those who are struggling with their addictions and various sins — may Allah give them the willpower to turn their backs against haram. May Allah put the repugnance and hatred of haram into their hearts. May Allah put the love of sunnah and the love of goodness in their hearts. May Allah miraculously support us and allow us to stand up as a community — energized, fixing up ourselves first, and then helping and serving the needs of our community across the globe.

We ask Allah to accept our du'as. May He accept the du'as of our brothers and sisters in Palestine, and through the barakah of their du'as, may He guide us as well. Ameen, ya Rabb al-'Alamin.

Announcements

Please pass the donation boxes from the left to the right. Donate generously on this blessed day of Jumu'ah. The Prophet alayhi salatu wa salam has mentioned that the charity given on the day of Jumu'ah is far greater in reward than any other day, and it wards off calamities and draws the mercy of Allah. So whether it is in the cash boxes, or you can Zelle at donate@masjidds.org or sadaqa@masjidds.org, as well as the kiosks in the lobby.

A few other announcements: next Friday night we will have our monthly seminar — after many months, we are going to be restarting that insha'Allah. This next weekend we have an Islamic Estate Planning Seminar with an attorney from Arizona, Hafiz Yasser Ali, wealth planning attorney. He will be speaking on a topic focused on how you can protect your family, leave a legacy, and fulfill your religious obligation. Friday, December 1st after Salatul Isha, 7:30pm. Please attend. There will also be a follow-up program with him with a Q&A session after our Fajr program on December 2nd, Saturday morning.

Our weekly Tafsir of Surah Al-Qasas began this past Tuesday. We will continue with Surah Al-Qasas on Tuesday nights, and a weekly Salawat program on Thursday nights after Isha. Tomorrow morning as usual we will have our talk on Tazkiyah — spirituality — followed by a community breakfast, which happens every Saturday morning.

Last but not least, we have our dinner insha'Allah very soon — in the next two weeks — December 9th. The annual once-a-year banquet. We are looking for Muslim businesses to partner up — not only to sponsor this event, but to give the community a chance to know about your business. We will advertise your business not only at the dinner but throughout the year, periodically sharing your business ads through our various social media platforms, website, Facebook, as well as WhatsApp.

We want to make sure that money is invested within the Muslim community. There are so many Muslim businesses present but we are simply not aware that they are Muslim-owned — whether it is a Muslim-owned gas station, a Muslim-owned car wash, whatever it may be. We want those brothers to come forward and put them in touch with us so we can have them support this event and use this opportunity to market their businesses and continue to market them throughout the entire year.

If you know anyone who has a Muslim business, or you are sitting here yourself, please reach out to someone at the office, any of the parking brothers, any of the brothers in the office, or text the masjid number or email us — and insha'Allah within the next week we can sort that out.

We ask Allah to give barakah in our Muslim communities and businesses, and make this a means of strengthening the Muslim economy as well. Ameen, Rabb al-'Alamin.