40-40 #03 – State of the Nation!

Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil alameen wa sallahu wa sallam Allah say that are willing will Arkadin Nabina Muhammad in while alihi wa sahbihi wa barik wasallam our prayers are due to Allah, Lord of the worlds in peace and blessings be constantly showered upon our beloved Prophet Muhammad, the master of the first and the last, and his family in his companions and all those who call to his way and establish his Sunnah to the Day of Judgment, my beloved brothers and sisters, to our friends, to our viewers, a salaam aleikum, wa rahmatullah II, or better cat

Alhamdulillah, we thank Allah subhanaw taala, for another opportunity

in the month of Ramadan, to be able to reflect upon His mercy, and upon the situation that we are in

the 40 by 40 series is not just a 40 Hadeeth book.

But it is 40 experiences that are couched in an environment of the West. And when I say the Western world, I don't mean just Europe, and the Americans. But I also mean South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and those countries that fall within this gamut of experience. And so the basis of the 40 by 40 series

was from traveling in these countries and experiencing life with the Muslims and the changes we will going through. But now, because of the international connections that people have, it's universal

Alhamdulillah, I have found over the years that Muslims are very similar in their experiences, their cultures may be different. The environment may be different. Some are in cold countries, some are in warm countries, but that human spirit, when it is connected to the revelation,

and facing changes on the planet Earth has a similar nature to it.

And that nature is really the basis of 40 by 40.

There are 40, prophetic guidances that are so important to our experiences. And when they were interpreted in real life, real living experiences, they became a type of guiding light for myself, and for many people who were coming into Islam, reviving Islam in their own life, and trying to make sense out of what is happening in this chaotic world today.

It began as a young Muslim, I embraced this llama hamdulillah.

I looked at the Muslim world. I used to read National Geographic. I wanted to travel to the Muslim nations. I recognized that Muslims had an amazing history, a history of strength, a history of international progress.

There were so many heroes coming out of the Muslim world for me, to heroes stood out in my early life, just before Islam and then coming into Islam, the Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him himself. And when I read his bio,

geography, his life, he touched my heart, because I could feel the universality of this individual that he actually was speaking in a language that was important for myself, as well as so many other people.

The second individual surprisingly, was sold on Salahuddin at a UB

very important individual in the crusades, a great leader of Islam, even though he had the opportunity to seek revenge and to destroy, he showed mercy with strength. He combined the two, he was humble, but he was fierce to protect

the people fears to stand up against evil. And so that balance in Seoul town Saladino, or UB and that mercy connected to the great mercy of Prophet moments on Salaam, Ramadan, the lather mean, was a mercy for all of the worlds. This really gave me images that I could try as much as I could to live up to.

I had the opportunity to travel in the Muslim world.

I traveled to the Middle East, to parts of Africa to Asia.

Asia, the Americas, of course, all over the United States, Canada, Caribbean, Central America. And I found that although Islam was such a perfect theory,

that the Quran and Sunnah was still in place,

that the trappings of Islam, the masjid stir, the country's, the environment was still there, the shell of it was still there. something was missing on the inside.

And when I traveled and interacted with Muslims, I found out

though, leave strong essence of Islam, a lot of grave worship. There were people who are afraid of the gym and afraid of the dark,

worshipping saints, setting up idols, even idols of the US dollar, the British pound.

And so

it was a contradiction.

I found bribery, in my interactions crossing borders.

I found problems that Muslims were facing on the inside of themselves, problems with their families, and racism, tribalism, strong divisions within the Muslim sometimes turning into violence. And so I want it what is happening to us? How could the Muslim below this trapping is there? How could it fall into what it is falling it and as from the 70s and 80s and 90s. Our calamities increased to the point where we have the largest refugee population in the world.

We have major calamities that are happening to us. And so I wondered to myself, what would Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him say to this, how would he address this? What did he leave for us in the way of his prophetic guidance? And this leads us to the second Hadith, the second prophetic wisdom that answers this burning question when people looking at the Muslim world, seeing us getting hit from all sides, see confused confusion and wondering what is actually happening. Abu huraira rather law one reported that the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said

Almighty has he or Martin mahoma laser La Habana Phil aka Abu hanifa dunya held fitted was Alaska will cattle.

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the Prophet peace be upon him said inauthentic tradition. This my oma my nation

is a nation that has mercy on it.

Its punishment is not in the next life. But the punishment is in this world,

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trials and tribulations earthquakes

and murder.

Prophet peace be upon him did not speak from himself. Allah subhanaw taala inspired him from above seven evidence. And in looking at the Muslim world we find that these three areas can describe the essence of what is hitting us what is happening to us. Al Fitton was the plural of fitna. A fitna is a trial it's a calamity, it's a temptation, it's a gray area, you're not sure whether to go to the right or to the left,

our confusion.

And so Dr. Rasulullah, Allah is allowed to allow that confusion hits the Muslim world. And periodically, it hits us when we go off the path. When we become too materialistic, to racist to tribalist

to negative to our children or men abusing their wives and their families, then Allah hits us. When justice comes out from our leaders, then the circumstances drastically change and a fitna is a terrible thing.

You could say to a certain extent that the COVID-19 is a fitna not only a fitna because of the medical nature of it, but it's also a tribulation and a trial because of the confusion that is coming in the confusion with information, the confusion with how people are dealing with it.

The confusion with how

They are dealing with each other.

The fitna also comes in the form of a confusion, a religious confusion.

And that is where right within the deen itself, our understanding of it starts to clash and is only what Allah subhanaw taala brings in regedit a reviver to the faith that Muslims have been able to come out of the fitna and the confusion.

The second area is Zazzle. And Lazarus earthquakes since a few years ago, I looked at a study and it was saying that the earthquakes 6.1 on the Richter scale or above, Muslim countries were some of the main areas where these earthquakes were manifesting. But you could also put it with natural catastrophes. And these natural catastrophes are hitting the Muslim world as well as the whole of the earth in an exponential fashion.

And so

it hits us. And the final point, total murder or genocide, we have Muslim blood becomes cheap. And we find when we look at the trial, and we look at murders going on in Syria,

the Rohingya Muslims and the Uighur Muslims, Central African Republican, what happened in Somalia, and we look in different parts Bosnia, and what was going on with the Muslims, that this genocide has hit us. And so this is like a type of, you could say pain that we suffer in order to wake up.

And so the Prophet is saying, our punishment is not

in the next life, in the hereafter. inshallah, if we hold on to our tour heat,

then there's hope for us in the hereafter. Even if we become Johanna miyun, are those who would enter the fire for a period of time and then be able to enter Paradise, that towhee, that Shahada, when it is sincere, and is penetrated our hearts and our lives, inshallah will help us in the hereafter. But in the dunya, it's not necessarily the case. In the dunya, we are subject to what people are subject to all over the world. And our trials will even be more intense, because of the leadership role that we should be assuming.

And so this tradition, answered a lot of the questions that I had.

When I look at the Muslim world with things happening to us, it comes back into my mind Almighty, how the oma twin markoma there's mercy on us, because we're suffering now.

And that suffering inshallah can be a type of purification for the next life. It can be a type of correction,

to to straighten us out to wake us up.

In order that we will go back to the straight path,

and is necessary with human nature because humans tend to relax when things are going well. humans tend to not focus on the Creator of the heavens and the earth, when they are being fed, and they are being closed. And so a wake up call has come to us, and will continue to the Day of Resurrection.

And I pray that Allah azza wa jal would give us that understanding to wake up. And to realize that what is going on around us is not a punishment, because we're wrong.

It's not a punishment, because we don't have the message. But a punishment because we're not implementing the message. We're not living Islam, it's one thing to read about Islam.

It's one thing to write a book about Islam, but who will live Islam who will put it into their lives.

That is the challenge in front of us. And the Prophet peace and blessings be upon him through his life, and to what he has left to us has left a beautiful fresh water well, that we can dip into at any point in time and come out with beautiful results.

And so this is the state of the nation.

The ball is in our corner,

and I pray that we can get back up on our feet and stand up for the poor. Stand up for tawheed the oneness of Allah

Stand up for those who unify and are not basing their life on racism and on tribalism, but stand up for those who are in need of guidance. And those who have given this beautiful Shahada, this witness to Allah azza wa jal. I pray that Allah will continue to bless you and your families and this oma in this month of Ramadan, and I pray the loss of panna hautala would give us success in this life and the hereafter. I leave you with these thoughts. Were after the darwaza I don't have to lie Rob Bell alameen wa salaam aleikum wa rahmatullah e or bad cat