The Promise Of Allah

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In this hadith, he says the same thing, that when a believer is afflicted with bad conditions, he praises Allah, and he is patient. And if he is blessed with good conditions, he praises Allah, and he is thankful. What's beautiful here is that, and then he says, فَالْمُؤْمِنِ يُجَرُ فِي كُلِّ أَمْرِهِ A believer will be given reward in every matter of his, in every affair.

If you look at the words, Rasulullah said, in good conditions, shakara, in bad conditions, sabara. In good conditions, he's thankful, in bad conditions, he's patient. This part is different.

But one part which is the same is, in good conditions, hamidallaha, he praises Allah. In bad conditions, hamidallaha, he praises Allah. So that part is the same.

Meaning he will continue to say, الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ حَالِ. He will say, الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ in every condition. Even in bad times, he will say, الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ.

In good times, he will say, الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ. That response from the believer is the same, will not change. It will not be different.

Examples from the Salaf

And we see examples of the salaf and the pious predecessors, and the sahaba and Rasulullah. They all show this. One example is that Shaykh Abdul Qadir al-Jilani was sitting with his students, and he was a big merchant as well. And someone came and gave him the news that your fleet of ships, that was a whole fleet of ships that he had in which he was bringing his merchandise.

There was a storm, and it was a very bad storm in the sea, and the whole fleet of ships have been destroyed, have sunk. So he put his head down for a few moments, and then he raised his head and said, الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ, الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ. And then the person went away.

After some time, another person came into the gathering, and he said that, that was a wrong news. There was a bad storm and hurricane at the sea, and many of the ships were destroyed, but your ships have come safe into harbor, and they have brought all your merchandise with a great profit. Then he put his head down for a few moments, and he thought and reflected on his condition, and then he said, الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ.

So somebody asked a question, objected that when you receive very bad news, you said, الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ. And then when you receive very good news, you also said, الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ. How did you have the same response for both? So we already saw the hadith now, this is what we are supposed to do.

The Explanation of Abdul Qadir al-Jilani

But how he explained it is he said, when this tragedy occurred, I was afraid that what happened, is this an azab from Allah, or is this a test from Allah. And I, for a few moments, reflected on the condition of my heart, and I made muhasabah of my nafs. What is my connection with Allah? Is Allah displeased with me? Have I turned away from Allah? I pondered and reflected over my condition.

Am I engaged in some disobedience of Allah? And that is why this has come as a form of azab and chastisement from Allah or not? And when I reflected, I could not come to realize that I have just broken any command of Allah recently, or I have disobeyed Allah, or I felt the displeasure of Allah. So then I realized this is a means of testing me so that Allah could forgive my sins and elevate my status. This is a form of mercy from Allah.

So therefore I said, Alhamdulillah. And then when the good news came that the ships have reached harbor safely and there is a great profit, then again I became scared. Is this from Allah something called istidraj? Istidraj means when Allah gives more and more of the dunya and blessings of this world so that you continue to get engrossed in that and you disobey Allah and you further make your scale of sins heavier on the day of judgment.

Allah ta'ala like He gave dunya to Fir'aun and Qarun, He gave worldly blessings to Nimrud and Haman, all of these blessings in Shaddad, they were istidraj, they are not a sign of the pleasure of Allah. This means that Allah is giving them worldly blessings so that they continue to disobey Him and they forget about Him. He doesn't catch them to remind them of His greatness and that He is in control.

So this is a very difficult test. So I ponder over my condition that is Allah upset with me and that's why He is giving me all these worldly things so that I forget about Him and I become engrossed in this or not. And then I found, Alhamdulillah, that my relationship with Allah was steady and strong and increasing in strength.

So then I said, Alhamdulillah. So the reality is, this is a very old question that arises. The bad conditions, they come upon the slaves of Allah.

Tests Upon the Prophets and Beyond

Anbiya, they have tests and trials. Ayub had physical sickness. Yusuf was thrown away from his home. Yunus was swallowed by the fish in the sea. Different Anbiya underwent trials. Rasulullah underwent so many trials.

And then we have bad conditions that come upon the enemies of Allah. Sometimes we say this is a test and a trial to elevate the status. Sometimes we say this is an a'zab. This is the anger of Allah. And likewise, good conditions and health and wealth and prosperity, Allah gives His beloved slaves. He gave Dawud and Sulaiman kingdom in the earth.

He gave Rasulullah in Madinah Munawwarah, an independent state and the power and respect in the hearts of the people. So He gives worldly blessings as well to His beloved slaves. And then He gives Qarun and Nimrud and Shaddad and Abu Jahl. They also had wealth and they had blessings. Sometimes we say that this is a sign of the happiness of Allah, the pleasure of Allah. And sometimes we say, no, this is istidraj.

Allah is giving respite, giving them a chance to further go away from Him and forget about Him. So how do we determine which one is which one? The very simple answer is that it depends on our behavior and how we deal with the situation. When the good condition comes from Allah, if we are following these ahadith that we mentioned and we are actually genuinely thanking Allah, praising Allah, attributing the success back to Allah, then this means that this is a blessing from Allah.

Allah is pleased with us. That is why He is granting us these blessings. Like Sulaiman, he said, He attributed the success back to Allah. And if we attribute the success to ourselves and forget about Allah, then what is this? This is a sign that Allah is giving us respite. This is istidraj from Allah. This is a very dangerous success.

This is like Qarun said, I have acquired all these blessings through my own intelligence. He attributed it to himself. And when bad conditions come, if a person turns towards Allah, makes tawbah to Allah, there is more devotion and concentration in his worship. The tears are trickling down his eyes. His heart is softened because of the conditions he is going through. He comes towards the house of Allah. He comes towards the masjid. He makes tawbah from his sins. If this is his reaction to the bad conditions, then this does not mean Allah is displeased with him.

Allah is pleased with him. He is bringing him back. He is bringing him back towards him. Allah is calling him through these bad conditions back towards himself. So you should be thankful to Allah that he got this wake-up call before it was too late. And on the other hand, if the bad conditions come and a person complains against Allah and loses hope in Allah, forgets about Allah, then this is something which is a form of a'zab from Allah.

Seeking Refuge from Extremes

Like Rasulullah said, Faqar, extreme poverty can lead a person towards kufr, forgetfulness of Allah. And Rasulullah sought refuge from both extremes. O Allah, I seek your protection. I seek refuge in you from what? So from faqar al-munsi. Al-faqar al-munsi is that faqar, such extreme poverty that make you forget Allah. You say, why should I even worship Allah? Why should I perform salah? Why should I fast? When I don't even have food to begin with.

I don't have food for suhoor and iftar. What's the point of fasting? What's the point of praying to Allah who doesn't feed me? So a person, he forgets Allah, he becomes despondent, he loses hope in Allah because of his extreme poverty. Rasulullah sought refuge from such poverty.

And this is what is happening in many places throughout the world because people are in very poor economic conditions and then different NGOs or different missionaries come and say that, if you say Jesus Christ is your savior, young boy, you can have this chocolate in my hand. It looks so attractive. It looks so beautiful. He only saw the wrappers and he smelled it. And he licked the empty wrapper. He never tasted the chocolate inside. Now he can get the whole chocolate bar. So he says, I'll go for it. I'll just leave my religion.

So this is, اَللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ فَقْرٍ مُنْسِيَ. I seek refuge from such poverty which will make me forget Allah. Wa min ghina mutghia. Such richness and such dunya and such blessings of this world which mutghia, which will make a person lose his mind and become arrogant, cross all the bounds of transgression and become drunk in material pleasures. That is the other extreme. Where we have so much worldly things that we forget Allah. We have to seek refuge from both.

Whether we are in difficult conditions or in good conditions, we always have to have our eye on Allah. Sabr and shukr. Rasulullah mentioned a hadith that Allah praised this ummah and the believers of this ummah before this ummah came into existence in the time of Isa. He said, Allah said, O Isa, I will send after you a ummah. If they get what they love, praise Allah. And if they get what they hate, be patient and be patient. Allah told Isa. Before the keynote speaker comes, before the guest comes, then he is introduced. This is the bio of the speaker. And this is the accomplishments and the achievements of the one who will come next. Likewise, Allah mentioned about, of course, our beloved Rasulullah in detail to the anbiya before him. That this is the final prophet who is going to come.

But not only was the description of the final prophet given to the anbiya before, even the description of the ummah was given before. So Allah is addressing Isa and he said, O Isa, I will be sending after you such an ummah. Such a great ummah that when such conditions come, that they like, and that they are happy, Hamidullah, they will be praising Allah. And they will be thanking Allah. They will not become arrogant. They will not forget Allah, rather they will praise Allah. They will make shukr. And when they face conditions that they do not like, that are not in their favor, ihtisabu, then they will be looking forward to reward from Allah. Ihtisab is expecting reward from Allah. Looking forward for a reward on the patience that a person will be observing. And they will make sabr. And then what he said after that is, wala hilma wala aqala.

And they inherently will not have forbearance, nor will they have the intelligence. They will not have hilm, they will not have aqal. Forbearance is hilm, and aqal is intelligence. Meaning they will not have the forbearance of the prophets, nor the intelligence of the anbiya, like you or Nabi Isa have. Faqala ya rabbi kayfa yakoon wa hadha lahum wala hilma wala aqala. So Isa was very surprised. And he said, Ya Allah, how is it possible for them to be grateful in time of blessings, to be patient at the time of afflictions, and then on top of it, you are saying they have no hilm, no aqal, they have no forbearance, they do not have intelligence. Then Allah says, Qala ootihim min hilmi wa ilmi. Allah says that, they inherently do not have it, but, Ya Isa, I will be granting them hilm from my ilm. And I will be granting them hilm from my hilm. I will be inspiring them. So their forbearance that they will show, and the knowledge that they will have, will be divine, divinely inspired, directly from Allah. Every blessing comes from Allah naturally.

He is the mun'im al-haqiqi, He is the true benefactor and bestower of everything that we have. But Allah here attributed the ilm to Himself, and the hilm to Himself, for mazeed tashreef li ummati Muhammadin. To further grant honor to this ummah of Rasulullah. To further grant honor, he said that, the ilm that they will have will be directly from my ilm. The hilm and the forbearance they will show will be from my hilm, that I will give them, I will grant them, I will inspire them.

Strength Through Trust in Allah

So we have to be strong in the face of the different trials that we are facing, and the different bad conditions that are coming upon us. And look at these ahadith of Rasulullah. We are definitely from the ummah of Muhammad Mustafa. We are from the ummah of the best of the prophets, the last prophet. Allah, if we trust in Him, if we believe in Him, will grant us forbearance to be able to survive the trials that we are facing as a ummah here in this country and throughout the world. And Allah will give us the knowledge.

What do we need to do on our part? We have to show unwavering allegiance to Allah, faith in Allah, belief in Allah, reliance on Allah, tawakkul on Allah. Then we will see Allah will give us such... MashaAllah Allah will give us such depth of forbearance and will give us such strength, such reserves of strength that we did not imagine that we ever had. And we think we don't have.

In fact we do not have. Because the hadith said it itself. Allah Himself said, وَلَا حِلْمَ وَلَا عَقْلَ You don't have the hilm nor do I have a hilm. We do not have the forbearance to undergo any of these trials. Nor do we have the ilm and the knowledge how to face and combat these different scenarios that we have to face. So where will the ilm come from, hilm come from? When we don't have it, I don't have it, you don't have it.

Allah said, I will give it. وَعَطِيهِم مِّنْ حِلْمِ وَعَطِيهِم مِّنْ عِلْمِ From my ilm, my hilm, I will grant them. So this is a great great promise from Allah for us.

May Allah make us among those who receive divine inspiration, divine strength and forbearance and able to insha'Allah overcome the difficulties that we are facing in this country. وَآخِرُ دَعْوَانَا أَنِ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ