6 Benefits of Trials & Tribulations - Ustadh Aqeel Mahmood

6 Benefits of Trials & Tribulations

We look around the world, brothers and sisters, and we see the state of the Muslims all over the world — not just in the Middle East, not just in Asia, but wherever there are Muslims, they are going through some type of trial and some type of tribulation. And we see the Muslims being oppressed. We see the Muslims being harmed. We see the Muslims being slaughtered and killed in certain parts of the world. And when we see this, it hurts us. We feel their pain.

And we hear stories of children who leave their homes in the morning to go to school. They say goodbye to their families and they go to school. When they come back from school, they don't have a home to go back to. Their homes have been bombed. Their family is dead. And you hear stories about orphans living in orphanages because their whole family has been killed — slaughtered. And when they go to sleep at night, they take some chalk and they draw an outline of an adult on the ground. And they sleep next to it because they're looking for some type of support, some type of comfort in their lonely lives.

We hear about other children who are killed, and just before they die, just before their souls are taken, they tell those who are holding them in their arms: "I'm going to tell Allah everything. I'm going to tell Allah everything that happened." And we hear countless stories like this of our own Muslim brothers and sisters who are being killed, who are being slaughtered.

We see videos and images on Facebook, on television about their state and what they're going through. And it tugs at the heartstrings of every single one of us. And we feel their pain.

And some of us, when we hear about these stories, when we hear and we see what the Muslims are going through, some of us start to have certain doubts. Some of us start to question things. Some of us start to say: if we are upon the haq, if we are upon the truth, if we are those who are rightly guided, then why is this happening to us? Why is this happening to those whom Allah has chosen? If we are upon the truth, why are we being humiliated today? If we are upon the haq, and we are great in number — there are so many Muslims living today — why is this happening? We start to question ourselves. We start to question our own faith. We start to question whether we are upon the truth. And sometimes this happens to some people.

And I want to mention today, brothers and sisters, some of the benefits and some of the wisdoms of trials and tribulations that befall the Muslims. Allah says:

You might dislike something. You might despise something. You might hate something. But Allah will put in that thing lots of good. There'll be lots of benefit in that thing — in that thing that you despise, in that thing that you hate. There'll be lots of good in it, whether we see that or not.

And I want to mention, brothers and sisters, six benefits of trials and tribulations that Muslims face. Six things that we can take. Six things that we can be optimistic about when we see what's happening to our Muslim brothers and sisters all over the world.

The Six Benefits

Benefit 1: Feeling Pain is a Sign of Īmān

First and foremost, the fact that we feel pain — the fact that when we see these things happening on the television screens, on our laptops, on our computers, the fact that we become upset — the fact that when we go to bed at night, we can't sleep because we're thinking about what's happening to our brothers and sisters all over the world — the fact that we have these feelings when we see our Muslim brothers and sisters being persecuted and slaughtered left, right, and center — the fact that we have this feeling is itself a sign that you yourself possess some īmān and some faith in Allah, and that you have a love for your Muslim brothers and sisters.

Because you've never seen them before. You don't know who they are. You don't know their families. You don't know where they're from. You don't know their language. You've never been to those countries before. But you see them on the television screens crying, and you start to cry. You become upset. And this is one of the signs of a believer. As the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

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

The example of the believers, with regards to their mutual love, their mercy, and the compassion that they possess, is like the example of a human body. When one part of that body feels pain — when there's pain in one single, small part of that body — the whole body feels pain. The whole body stays awake at night and it has a fever. It can't sleep. Even though that pain is just affecting one part of the body, one limb of the body.

And this is the example of the believer. When he sees someone whom he's never seen before, he doesn't know who they are, but he knows that they're being afflicted, they're being oppressed, they're going through trials and tribulations — it affects him. And know, brothers and sisters, that if this is happening to you, then you possess some īmān. And you should be grateful to Allah that He has made you from the believers, from those who possess faith and possess īmān.

Benefit 2: Recognising the Greatness and Power of Allah

The second benefit of these trials and tribulations that are happening today in this world is that it shows the greatness and the power of Allah. And it makes us realize that we have no power to do anything. If Allah wills, He will do whatever He wants. If He wants something to happen, it's going to happen — whether we want it to happen or not, whether we like it or not. And this is the qadr of Allah. And this is what Allah has chosen and decreed is going to take place to us and to our Muslim brothers and sisters all over the world.

Those Muslims, when they realize that this is in the hands of Allah, and that everything on the face of this earth belongs to Allah and everything will return to Him, what do they say? Those who, when a trial or a disaster strikes, say:

They say to Allah: we belong, and to Him we will return. They realize, when they see these things happening, there is something which is outside of their control. It's in the hands of Allah. They say: to Allah we belong. He is the one who created us. He is the one who gave us what we have. And He is the one we are going to go back to eventually. Everything on the face of this earth belongs to Allah.

Benefit 3: Turning Back to Allah

The third benefit of trials and tribulations which take place is that a person, when he sees these trials or when he goes through trials and tribulations that affect him and those around him, he turns back to Allah. Because he knows that there is no nation, there is no leader, there is no group of people that can help him more than Allah. If the whole world were to get together and try to harm someone, they won't be able to harm him if Allah protects him. And if the whole world got together and tried to help an individual, they won't be able to help him if Allah doesn't want to help him.

And an individual realizes this. He knows that Allah can help him at a time and at a moment when no one else will be able to help him. He puts his trust in Allah. He asks Allah instead of asking and depending on other people, on other individuals. Allah says:

And when harm touches him, when harm touches an individual, he calls on Us. He remembers Us. When a calamity afflicts him, when a trial befalls him, when he goes through some form of tribulation, he remembers Allah. And Allah says:

When harm touches you while you're at sea, everything that you used to call upon vanishes. Everybody that you used to ask for help — they can't help you anymore. Except Him, except Allah. He knows in that state of weakness that nobody can help him. At this moment in time, he remembers Allah. And he knows that people may forsake him, people may not help him, but Allah is always there.

They say: you know your friends not during times of ease, but during times of hardship. You know who your friends are when you're going through a trial, when you're going through a calamity. You know who those people are that, when you're going through those trials, they're by your side. They're with you, they're helping you, they're supporting you. They don't abandon you. And you only find that during times of calamity and during times of trial.

Benefit 4: Expiation of Sins

The fourth benefit, brothers and sisters, of trials and tribulations before the Muslims is that it is an expiation for our sins and for our own shortcomings. Allah says:

Any disaster that strikes you is because of what your own hands have earned — and He forgives a lot of them. Any trials, any tribulations that an individual goes through, Allah will forgive most of them. So as a result of trials and tribulations, a person will have his sins expiated by Allah.

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 5641; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2573)

No tiredness, or exhaustion, or worry, or grief, or distress, or harm befalls a believer — even the pricking of a thorn, even something as small and as tiny as a thorn pricking him; he walks past a thorny bush and it pricks him — even something as small as this, it doesn't happen to the Muslim except that Allah expiates some of his sins as a result of this. SubhanAllah. Any type of discomfort that a believer goes through is a way for Allah to show His mercy — a way of Allah forgiving some of our sins that we may have committed.

Benefit 5: Showing Mercy and Gratitude

The fifth benefit, brothers and sisters, of these trials and tribulations that are happening around the world is that we show mercy to those in need when we see them suffering, and we offer any type of aid that we can give them. And it reminds us to be grateful to Allah for the fact that we're living in safety and in security.

The fact that we're here living comfortably — we remember Allah's blessings upon us. That He saved us from these trials and tribulations. That He has given us wealth that we can spend on those people who are suffering. We're in a position where we can help those people.

A person lives here in comfort, in total comfort. He doesn't have to worry about leaving home and his family being unsafe. He doesn't have to worry about coming back from work and seeing his house demolished and destroyed. He doesn't have to worry about money and income. He doesn't have to worry about food — where is he going to get the food from? How is his family going to eat today? Yet there are people around the world who are thinking about these things every single day. They're worried they're going to leave their homes and their homes are going to be destroyed. They wake up in the morning thinking: how am I going to feed my children? And us living here, we can't even begin to imagine what those people are going through.

And so a person living here, with the blessings that he's been given by Allah, when he sees those people suffering, he helps them. He offers them aid. He gives them wealth. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said that wealth doesn't decrease through charity. When you give in charity, when you give money to those who need it, your wealth won't decrease as a result of you helping others.

So my brothers and sisters, it's an opportune time — an ideal moment — for you to be rewarded from Allah by giving your wealth to those who need it the most. By aiding those people who are in need, those people who are looking around and asking: when is the help of Allah going to come?

Benefit 6: Increasing Īmān — These Trials Were Foretold

The sixth benefit of trials and tribulations that afflict the Muslims in this world is that this is something which Allah and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ have decreed and foretold is going to happen. And if anything, it should increase our īmān and not decrease it. It should make us stronger as believers and not make us weaker. Allah says:

Do the people think that they will be left alone just because they say "we believe," and that they won't be tested as a result of this? Rather, We tested those who came before them — so Allah will know who are those people who are truthful, and He will know those individuals who are the liars.

So Allah has told us that these things are going to happen to the Muslim Ummah — to distinguish between those who have īmān and those who don't. Those who are the believers and those who are the hypocrites. Those who have faith in Allah and have trust in Allah, and those who forsake Allah and don't have trust in Him. So that we can distinguish between the two.

The fact that these trials happen so that Allah can differentiate between the khabīth and the tayyib — between the impure, those people who are contaminated, whose īmān isn't there, who are hypocrites, who don't have any love or sympathy for their Muslim brothers and sisters — and the tayyib, the good, those people who have some element of īmān, some mercy and compassion. Those people who are the true believers of Allah. These things happen so that Allah can distinguish between the two, and so that we as believers can tell who are the true believers and who aren't — who are helping the Muslim brothers and sisters and who aren't.

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ, when he went out to the battle of Uhud, he was around a thousand strong. On the way there, before they reached the battleground, around 300 of them left. And many of us would think this was a problem — something which harmed the Muslims, something negative. But rather it was a positive. Because they saw who were the true believers and who weren't. And so you learn lessons from these types of situations. When you're at these critical moments, you see who are the true believers and who aren't.

And Allah says in the Qur'an:

You are going to be tested in your wealth and in your own selves. And you for sure are going to hear from the People of the Book and from those who commit shirk lots of abuse, lots of harm, lots of insults. And if this isn't relevant and pertinent to what's happening today, then I don't know what it is relevant to. The fact that this is happening today — people are insulting us, people are harming us, people are mocking us, people are humiliating us — but Allah has already told us in the Qur'an that this is going to happen, that you're going to hear from those people and they're going to be insulting you and harming you.

But those people who are going to be victorious are those who will be patient and those who will stick to the Qur'an and the Sunnah, and those who remember that Allah's help is coming:

Verily, His help is close. It's going to happen.

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ also mentioned that this situation will occur and that the Muslims will be in a state of weakness. He said that there will be a time when the nations are going to call each other — just like they do when there's food around — and they're going to set upon you. They're going to attack you. So it was said by the companions: "Will it be because we are few in number, O Messenger of Allah?" And the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Rather, you're going to be many on that day. There's going to be loads of you. You won't be weak with regards to your numbers — you're going to be great in number. But rather you're going to be like the foam on the river." Meaning you're not going to be worth anything even though you're huge in number. The quantity is there but there's no quality.

And he said Allah will also remove the fear of you from the hearts of your enemies — they won't fear you anymore. And He'll throw wahan in your hearts. And the companions said: "O Messenger of Allah, what is wahan?" And the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Love of this world and hatred for death."

And this is exactly what's happening today. We have a love of this world. We want to accumulate and make lots of money. We love wealth — an extreme form of love. We ask Allah that He rectifies our affairs and the affairs of the Muslims all over the world.

I say this and ask Allah's forgiveness for me and you. Indeed, He is the Forgiving, the Merciful.

The Weapon of the Believer: Du'ā

Many of us, when we see these incidents happening all over the world and we see these images and these videos, it tugs at our heartstrings. We feel upset, we become emotional, and we want to do something. We want to go out and help those people. And I want to mention something that all of us can do — something that will help our Muslim brothers and sisters wherever they may be, in any part of the world, in any country where the Muslims are being persecuted and slaughtered. Something that every single one of us can do sitting here today — whether we're old or young, whether we're male or female, whether we're strong or weak, whether we have lots of money or don't have any money at all to give in charity. Every single one of us has this weapon. This weapon that, if every single one of us used it effectively, could change the whole face of the Ummah. It could change the entire state of the Muslim world today.

And this weapon that every single one of us possesses, brothers and sisters, is du'ā — supplication. The scholars have said: du'ā is the weapon of the believer.

There was once an oppressive Muslim ruler who used to oppress the Muslims, used to harm the Muslims. Nobody liked him. He was unjust. And once he was walking down the street from the many towns and cities that he had command over and authority over. And he was wearing the best of clothes, he had guards around him, and he was walking with pride and with arrogance. There were crowds around him despising him because of the harm that he had caused them, but they couldn't do anything. He himself had guards around him, and he was walking with pride and with arrogance, and nobody dared to say anything — except an old, frail woman.

She came out of the crowd and stood in front of him. And she said, looking at him and pointing at him: "I'm going to make du'ā against you. I'm going to supplicate to Allah." And this man, in his pride and in his arrogance, laughed at her and walked away. And he turned around and said to this woman: "Don't forget to make du'ā in the last part of the night." And he walked off — because du'ā in the last part of the night is accepted by Allah.

Sometime later, this very same leader, this very same oppressive leader, was going down the same streets — in chains and in handcuffs. The people were humiliating him, and the guards were now taking him not as an oppressive leader, but as a prisoner. He was being humiliated. And the same old woman came out in front of him and said to him: "I took your advice. JazakAllah khair."

So we can see from this story, brothers and sisters, the power of du'ā.

How many of us really supplicate to Allah every single day for our Muslim brothers and sisters all over the world? How many of us, when we pray and we are in sajdah — and we are closest to Allah while we're prostrating — how many of us supplicate to Allah to ease the suffering of our Muslim brothers and sisters all over the world? How many of us really do this? And I question myself before I question anybody else. How many of us wake up in the middle of the night, in the last part of the night, and supplicate to Allah to ease their suffering?

It's easy for us to say things. It's easy for us to share a quote or a message online. But how many of us are actually acting and making a difference through our supplications, through our du'ā? How many of us are doing this? Really sincerely think about this and ask yourselves, brothers and sisters. How many of us are doing this on a consistent basis? It's one thing doing it one day of the week for Jumu'ah, when the khatīb makes the du'ā at the end of his khutbah. But it's another thing doing it yourself, regularly and consistently, making du'ā for those people around you.

Du'ā

We ask Allah that He ease the suffering of our Muslim brothers and sisters all over the world.

Indeed, Allah commands you to 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.

Remember Allah, the Most Great, the Most Majestic — He will remember you. Call upon Him with His blessings upon you — He will increase you. And the remembrance of Allah is the highest, the best, and the greatest. And Allah knows what you do.