Divine Deprivation
Date:
Channel: Abdullah Oduro
File Size: 18.41MB
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AI Generated Summary ©
The speakers discuss the strongest forms of pride and strength that individuals possess, emphasizing the importance of being a slave of Allah and taking care of personal challenges and responsibilities. They stress the need to avoid asking for children and find comfort in front of Allah. The responsibility of Islam is to empower people to take advantage of opportunities and create a world where everything is never the same, and resources can be used to make people feel comfortable living in a world that is constantly changing and limiting them. The speakers emphasize the importance of faith in Allah's actions and finding a way to use it as a primary solution to remove suffering and empower people.AI Generated Transcript ©
And your brothers, sisters, elders and youngsters,
one of the strongest forms of strength
and honor
and presence that we seek
is through affiliations.
Through our affiliations,
through our associations,
we're able to secure a sense of presence,
a sense of strength,
a sense of honor that I'm a part
of this and I'm included in that.
I have a more honorable affiliation.
And these affiliations,
the closer
that we are to them and the stronger
the linkage is,
the more we can take from them and
the more we can benefit from them, and
the more we're able to feel a sense
of security through them.
My dear brothers and sisters,
the strongest affiliation
that each and every one of us possess
that was gifted to us, that was endowed
to us
is the affiliation of being the abd of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Being the slave of Allah
is the most honorable, enabling, empowering affiliation that
any human being could ever have. Because being
this 'Abd
now means that I am naturally
innately
close to
Allah. There's a default state with Allah that
He has with us that we don't have
to cultivate
this relationship to the point of making Allah
close to us. He is by default close
to us and in in the realm of
His presence, in His mercy and His Qudra.
What a loss it would be
if someone has an affiliation of someone
that is extremely wealthy or honorable, but they
can't take anything from them. What a loss
it would be for us
being the slave of Allah and having this
affiliation
if I am unable to take from the
treasures of Allah
Oh my son, oh my oh my youngster,
when you ask, only ask Allah
because you have an affiliation with Allah. And
Allah is such that when we turn towards
him,
divine intervention can take place through his qudra.
And he does whatever he wishes.
No one can ask of him why he
did and when he did something.
Another is
the taking care of and the responsibility
of every single creation of the heavens and
the earth difficult for Allah.
Everything depends upon Allah and that affiliation
is me being Allah's slave.
When Allah speaks about the journey of Mi'raj,
He says,
Our praise and purity belongs to Allah the
one who took his slave on a night
journey.
The identity
of a slave is quite limiting.
But the relationship of the slave with Allah
is the most empowering.
And if we remove Allah from this equation,
then we simply remain someone else's slave
because being an abd is our reality. Now
whose abd are we? Whose affiliation do we
seek honor from? When Allah subhanahu wa'am speaks
about Isa alaihis salam when he spoke from
the cradle, he said, Inni abadullah.
I understand of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala which
then empowers us.
It does not confine us.
There was never a man or a woman
in history
that we adjusted their life to the commandments
of Allah and they were limited in their
abilities.
Their abilities and their talent and their resources
only expanded.
This is what we call barakah.
The capacity of it grew.
The ability of it grew. And now in
this beautiful
last 12 days or 11 days of the
month of Ramadan,
this slave has an ability or an opportunity
to be able to ask from Allah like
never before.
Because what is what benefit is there of
a relationship if you cannot ask that person
for something
when there is a need?
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala opens up his treasures
of mercy, forgiveness,
giving, forgiveness.
And these last 10 days like none other
throughout the entirety of the year. It is
our responsibility
to be able to take from Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala. There will be many of us
who are experiencing
limitations within family,
challenges within children,
challenges within our finances, challenges within just generally
the confining nature of this world,
the limiting nature of this world.
The prophet of Allah would speak about this
world and the akhirah in comparison by saying,
I invite people to leave the tightness and
the confinement of this world to the everlasting
expansion of the hereafter.
And once we engage with such a dua,
and once we engage with Allah in such
a manner that we supplicate in front of
Him and we ask of Him, there is
no such thing that Allah cannot do for
us human beings. And people will say that,
How are you going
to be able to be gifted with this
children,
a job, a promotion, a school, a career,
health. And we respond by saying,
Who gave anyone else the ability in the
key to say that we cannot receive something
from Allah?
We are the ones that distribute blessings.
We are the ones that distribute children.
We are the ones that distribute health. Everything
and every aspect is within my domain.
So we simply are told to turn towards
Allah. There was a time when the world
turns against turn against Zakariyah alaihis salam. And
they told Zakariyah,
you keep asking for a child.
You've reached the age of a 100, nearly
a 100.
Stop asking for a child. You're so old.
You've reached the point that no one can
have a child at this age. And there's
many of us and many people who see
children and the people around them say, It
ain't gonna happen.
And Zakari alaihis salam says, I am not
asking for your support anyways.
My pursuit
is completely limited
in the du'a that I make to Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala. I don't search elsewhere.
I don't seek elsewhere
as a primary source. As a secondary source,
we can. As a primary
source
O Allah give me a child
and make him the source of your pleasure
and happiness. And as he made this dua
at an age
where it is not not only abnormal to
have a child, it's an anomaly, it's unheard
of. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says,
We gifted him the beautiful son and Yahya
alaihis salam who became a prophet. They came
to Yaqub
and they said to Ya'aqub, O Ya'aqub,
why don't you stop speaking about Yusuf?
Let that chapter be closed and let that
book be placed on a shelf and never
opened again. That ship has sailed.
Yusuf is no more.
You continue speaking and thinking and reminding yourself
about Yusuf
and you overwhelm yourself with his pain and
his loss and you put yourself in such
a difficult strain in a in in a
depression.
Stop.
He said, well, I was never asking you
anyways.
I complained to Allah.
I speak to Allah.
I spill my heart out in front of
Allah. The sign that I love someone
is that I feel extremely comfortable being vulnerable
in front of them.
That I feel comfortable
spilling the secrets of my heart out in
front of them regardless of
what it makes what it does to me
because I'm comfortable with them.
Is like a child.
He or she will always feel comfortable in
front of their mother. And our responsibility
by default
is that we're comfortable in front of Allah.
Speaking to Allah
and directly
conversing with Allah is a sign of us
of the strength of our relationship and it
would only give us more back. The more
we invest in it, the more we are
able to pick the fruits of it. They
said to him, no Yusuf. He said, well
I was never asking you.
I was asking Allah because my strength
is found within the duas that I make
to Allah.
And then the caravan came.
And that cloth is placed upon his eyes
and his eyesight is returned. Not only is
his eyesight returned, he is reunited with Yusuf.
And they're given a kingdom.
Because divine intervention
is present in everyone's life.
Them
and us,
Those are prophets, they were sahabas, but they
were humans.
The difference between us being able to secure
divine intervention
has nothing to do or has very less
to do
with who we are,
and it has more to do with our
conviction in who Allah is.
They understood who Allah was.
They understood the overwhelming
domain of Allah.
And therefore,
they found conviction in their dua.
One of the conditions of a dua being
accepted
is apostle Ramon, he says,
We pray to Allah with an with an
absolute conviction that when I leave this
and I get up from this
room that I'm sitting in alone in the
middle of the night with no one around
me and I'm crying in front of Allah,
I believe without a shadow of a doubt,
as I stand there is acceptance that is
written for me. And that dua is indeed
accepted.
When we use Allah as a 3rd, secondary,
4th option,
then we also will be treated the same
way by Allah.
There are people who use Allah as a
primary option
so Allah treats them as a primary solution.
And their dua is accepted first. And if
we treat Allah as a 3rd, 4th option,
that I simply do it because it's a
checkbox in my list that I ask Allah
for something or ask Allah to give me
this or that, then the response will be
reciprocal.
But when I,
Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala says that when we
are in the absolute
we're in the most difficult state of our
life,
where our backs are against the wall and
then when we make dua with such a
desperation
and with such an earnestness,
not only does Allah remove the difficulty from
our life, He makes us feel comfortable living
in this world
which is the goal of every one of
us. How do we feel comfortable living in
a world that is continuously changing and confining
us and limiting us and throwing this continuous
barrage of trials and tribulations towards us?
We turn to Allah. And it happened again
with Musa alaihis salam,
when the world turned to him
standing in front of an ocean,
an ocean,
dark ocean in front of him,
and the army of Firaun behind him.
And they reach Musa Musa alaihi salaam and
Bani Israel.
And Bani Israel is seeing the state that
they were in.
Because generally, the state of a human being
is that we first look in our we
look around ourselves. We look at our state.
We look at our resources because we believe
resources
are a direct extension of the impact that
we want.
So they look around themselves and say, We're
finished. We're we are dead.
Fir'awn and his army will destroy us or
we will drown in the ocean. And in
that moment of difficulty,
Musa alaihi salam understood
that impact is felt
not through their resources
because many before us had it. Many before
us not only had it but they were
enjoying it.
He said,
Allah is with me and He will protect
us. And the sea, divine intervention,
will split open a sea.
Divine intervention
will make a blazing fire become a source
of coolness and warmth for a coolness and
comfort for someone.
Divine intervention
is in the Battle of Badr,
where every single sign of defeat is present
and no sign of victory is looming above
us.
And the prophet uses the same process. We
say, don't fix what's not broken.
And he simply calls upon Allah.
And he speaks to Allah.
O Allah, where is the promise that you
gave me that if I come for hijrah
and I move to Madinah, we will have
victory? Where is that promise? Look at these
people that are ready to destroy every single
one of my companions. O Allah,
fulfill your promise. Oh Allah, if these people
are destroyed,
then perhaps you will not be worshiped again.
And he was raising his arms like this
to the point that his cloak fell off
his back. And Abu Bakr comes behind and
he and he holds him and he hugs
him from behind and he says,
That's enough.
Allah has heard your dua. Allah will accept
your dua. Now your friends and brothers, today
we are experiencing the same.
That we are saying, Why are people not
opening the doors for us Muslims? Why has
the world closed its doors upon the people
of Ghazah? Why have they closed their doors
upon my children? Why has that school not
accepted my daughter? Why is that person not
accepting my son for their proposal?
It's all a difficulty.
But who we turn to
is Allah because He's the only one that
can open up those gateways for us anyways.
Like how they did before, like how it
happens today, Allah hasn't changed.
The system of Allah hasn't changed.
Nothing has changed except for my conviction when
I make that dua. If I use it
as a third option,
then perhaps we will also be reciprocated
in that same manner. And if I treat
it like a primary option
that I I convince myself, I cultivate with
within myself this ability
of sitting in front of Allah with absolute
humility and calling upon him.
And secrecy
alone,
then you and I will experience
in so many ways what those before us
experienced
because now
Allah is our first option
and turning towards Allah is our primary option.
Those miracles
were not miracles for Allah, They were miracles
for the people of this world because Allah
is above and beyond any aspect of limitation.
He is not confined by any norms or
any laws. He is the one that sets
it and he can break it as he
wishes. So in these last 11 nights of
the month of Ramadan,
we are reminded
that the unique benefit and blessing of these
nights
is that we are able to cultivate a
relationship with our creator through which we can
take from his treasures.
And the only way to do so is
to feel comfortable
speaking to him and being vulnerable in front
of him and knowing that he already knows
what we haven't told him anyways. So by
saying it, it does not expose us, but
it simply allows us to feel more comfortable
in front of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. May
Allah make us amongst those people that can
use these 11 nights that are left as
a source, as a miracle for us, for
the people of Gaza, for for those struggling
around the world. Many people are sitting, difficulty
with their children, their families,
difficulties at work, difficulties with people who are
sick within their families, parents who are elderly.
And as this is the norm of life,
but the sunnah is to continue using Allah
as a primary solution
and other things as a secondary solution. And
we would hope that Allah
will not let our hands fall without accepting
people.
people.