Abdullah Oduro – Friday Jummah 16-08-2024
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We praise Allah. We seek his aid and
forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the
evil of ourselves and
our bad deeds. Whomsoever
Allah guides, none can misguide, and whomsoever Allah
allows to be led astray, none can guide
aright.
And I bear witness that there is no
one worthy of worship except Allah, the exalted,
and that Mohammed is his last messenger and
servant. All you who believe, be mindful of
Allah and die not except in a state
of submission to him alone.
All humanity, be mindful of Allah who created
you from a single soul and from that
created his mate and from that scatters many
men and women.
Oh, humanity, be mindful of Allah and do
not cut off relations with your kin, with
your relatives.
Indeed, Allah is a raqib.
He monitor over you.
Oh, humanity,
be mindful of Allah and speak the truth.
In order for him to accept us of
our deeds and forgive us for our sins,
and whoever obeys Allah
the exalted has indeed achieved the greatest success.
As to what follows, indeed, the best book
is the book of Allah
The best speech is the book of Allah
And the best guidance is that of Muhammad
Peace and blessings be upon him.
And of the worst affairs in our doctrinal
system of Islam are the newly invented ones.
For every newly invented affair in this situation
is an innovation.
And for every innovation is a form of
going astray, and for every form of going
astray is in the fire of *.
God slowed my body down in order to
speed my mind up.
God slowed my body down in order to
speed up my mind.
This was a statement of a man that
contracted polio,
had something to do with the nerves and
the muscular system,
to where his left foot was shorter left
leg was shorter than his right leg. He
had to wear a a shoe that had
a bigger sole
than
everyone's typical shoe. But through the process of
this as a kid, he was born with
this.
He was made fun of. His brothers used
to tease him
to where they even offered to do a
surgery to extend his leg,
and he refused refused to do so.
But he went through life with this challenge,
and we have the opportunity
to say, instead of challenge,
this opportunity.
Because the statement that was just mentioned, god
slowed my body down to speed up my
mind, he became
a person that is well known
for helping people in business
and very, very eloquent and sharp.
But what's important here
is how you look if something was taken
away
that in his mind
and in in his heart,
he knows for sure that it's for divine
reason, number 1.
And he knows that Allah will replace it
in the way that he sees fit, number
2.
And with that in mind, he says something
that coincides with number 1 and number 2.
That Allah, he's
able to do all things.
And from the manifestation of his ability is
that he can take one thing away and
replace it with something else. As the prophet
even said, if Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, chooses
to take away,
the 2 beloved things to take it away,
to make them blind to where they are
blind.
Allah will replace that with Jannah
Jannah.
What's beautiful about this hadith
is every single one of us
with our
carnal self, our natural self, our natural inclination,
our disposition,
we know that vision and sight is crucial
for our existence.
To where the lack of vision and the
lack of seeing, whether it is totally absent
or whether it is deficient
or even more so deficient over time, which
may even be the majority of us, subhanAllah.
That that is something that is cherished, it
is valued, and some of us don't even
recognize its value until
it is decreased,
until the value of it or until the
the quality of it is lessened.
That is what will wake you up. But
do you wake up to praise and thank
and have good thoughts about Allah or is
it the opposite?
Allah
said, hadith Qudsi, when the prophet narrates when
the law says,
He said, I am as my servant thinks
of me.
So when Allah
takes something away or does what he wills,
what is your thought and your perception
about what he chose to do?
And that is why the of an understanding
predestination
that Allah chooses for things to happen is
for a divine reason.
And that's why
the blessings of pain
the blessings of pain is important for us
to
understand.
That when we face something
that we don't anticipate,
and that thing that we didn't anticipate
is not to our favor.
We have to understand that some of the
greatest gifts
are painful
when you receive them.
Some of the greatest gifts
are painful when you receive them. And I
firmly believe
that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
which is so amazing.
You know, in the Quran, the chapter of
Rum, Rum, Allah says, woman, ayati. Woman, ayati.
And from his signs from his signs. I
countlessly tell myself and all of you
that the word
aya, we can understand it to mean verse,
but that's only one aspect of the word
aya.
Because of the context of literature,
meaning the Quran, meaning the Quran, the word
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, it is a
verse. But aya linguistically
means
a sign.
It is a sign.
When we say, Alhamdulillahi
rubbilaalameen,
alameen comes from alameen which means to know.
Because when you see a sign,
it gives you knowledge of something.
When you saw the street sign, the lights,
red is a sign that has a message.
If you don't implement the message, you could
face the consequences.
A stop
sign
has a message.
Every single thing other than the creator is
an ayah. Not only a verse of the
Quran.
It is a sign of Allah's presence,
and it is a sign of his beautiful
names and attributes. So
Allah, with the signs that he shows us
on this earth, with the signs that he
shows us via his names and attributes, creation,
love, protection, predestination,
It is important for the Muslim to search
and see what sign is Allah showing me
now.
And then to act upon that knowledge that
they have of Allah, and the knowledge of
that particular situation,
which most likely will be in this situation
with pain,
patience.
With pain,
perseverance.
With pain,
gratitude.
You know, from the signs of Allah, subhanahu
wa ta'ala, as we mentioned,
as some of the blessings
are found in pain,
we can give one example that all of
us know, childbirth.
Not all of us.
Not all of us. Men don't understand
We only sit and watch and, you know,
thank Allah for things, and then we ask
Allah to protect our wives, our mothers. We
don't
know the reality of that, and that is
from the wisdom of Allah
That the prophet
that he mentions that I am the most
I have the most jealousy or preserving the
right of 2 demographics, 2 types of people.
Okay. The Yateem and the Marah, I am
very diligent in protecting these 2 for the
2 weak forms of demographic, meaning that they're
not totally weak. They can't handle themselves,
but they are the ones that need protection.
The Yateem is the orphan and the woman.
They need our protection as men. But with
that reality,
Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, is predestined for them
to give childbirth.
Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, is predestined for them
to face a certain type of pain that
we as men can't even understand. It's unbearable
if we were to think about it.
To the degree when Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala,
described Miriam,
when she per conceived
Allah gets descriptive.
He says, the pains of childbirth came to
Miriam,
the mother of Jesus.
She grabbed the tree.
And she said, I wish I was not
here at this moment,
that I was forgotten about.
The pain was unbearable, and then the pain
of what people would say, so emotional and
physical pain at the same time.
Allah
wisdom, we can never totally encompass it.
That's why it's important for us when we
face not if not if,
when we face this
pain that we allow it to serve as
a process
for purification.
That pain is a means that Allah has
predestined
for us individually
and collectively
for purification.
And once we understand that, we know that,
and we try our best to internalize it,
that is where the reward lies.
It's all within the color of Allah, brother.
We cannot say anything to this peace of
Allah
You know, my family, they came to me
and then they said,
why weren't you in the front seat?
I said, we can't say this in Islam.
This is what was mentioned to me that
from a brother in our community
that suffered a very tragic accident
very tragic accident here in Dallas.
He was
on the road, on a highway, and he
faced a flat he had a flat tire
on the right, the passenger side in the
front,
to where he veered off to the side
of the road. So there's the road, there's
the highway, then there's this shoulder,
and then there's the metal boundary.
So he is on the right side. He
and his sister-in-law are on the right side
trying to figure out the how to fix
the tire. So they're in between the tire
and the metal rail.
They went it was a July 4th. They
went to go see the fireworks, you know,
that some of us may do.
So he went there and he tried to
see, okay, how can we fix the tire?
Come to find out, they they didn't have
a spare tire. He looked under the car,
there was no spare tire.
And his daughter,
is very active as he is. Beautiful brother.
Very active brother.
His daughter wanted to get out the car.
He said, no. Stay in the car. No.
Stay in the car. And then he tells
me from his hospital bed,
After I said, no. Stay in the car
the 3rd time, that's all I remember. I
don't remember anything else.
Brothers and sisters,
this brother,
a truck, a a truck came 75 miles
per hour, hit the back left side of
the car,
and grazed the car, hit the back left
side, and grazed the car.
He said that he was told
that his car, that he was in front,
he flew.
And his sister-in-law
was pinned in between the passenger right front
side of the car and the rail
to where immediately
amputated,
cut off her leg.
Immediately.
He tells me that when I woke up,
I went, and I'm like, where's my daughter?
Where's my daughter? His daughter was in the
car.
The car hits with the with so much
of an impact. He said that she had
a blunt dent in on her head. Very
and you looked at the you look in
the x-ray, you see that there's a big
crack in her skull.
His sister-in-law, he tries to pull her. He
pleases, I put my hand under her armpits,
and I tried to pull her out. She
was screaming, and she was biting me. He
said, I didn't even realize she was biting
me.
The adrenaline,
all of this happening.
Subhanallah.
When talking to this brother,
all he kept saying is what I said
earlier.
This is what a lot of chose to
happen. Maybe it could've been this. Maybe I
could've been in the front seat of the
car. Maybe it could've been this. Maybe there
was some there was some things in the
back of the car, some some utensils, and
some of them rushed forward to the car.
What if I was in the passenger seat
at that time? Maybe it could have been
Allah knows best.
His speech, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah.
And his relative, he said that someone that
were coming to say, why were you why
didn't you stay in the car? This wouldn't
have happened. He said, no. No. In Islam,
we can't say that.
This is what he said. In Islam, we
can't say that. Because the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam, what did he say?
He said, and do not say, if this
would have happened, then this would have happened.
For really saying that is what? It opens
a door to Satan. How?
Because you do not have the predestinated
nature to understand future events.
You do not know.
When the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam which
was told by Ibn Abbas when
he would go and visit someone, he would
say,
When entering upon anyone that's sick or facing
an ailment that some scholars didn't even mention
in this situation,
you
say,
insha'Allah.
Insha'Allah,
translates to mean, don't worry. No problem.
It'll serve as a purification.
It's very important when seeing people that have
been afflicted with some kind of pain,
that you remind them of Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala
because it is very, very easy
to lose hope in him.
And I think this time when speaking about
what's going on around the world
remember my last quote, but I said it
is not for us to compare atrocities.
This is happening in Gaza, and this is
happening in in in in in China.
We know that all these are atrocities,
and people are facing this.
But it's important to know that the word
of Allah
is very important when visiting or seeing or
hearing about someone's affliction.
When we read on a WhatsApp message when
someone is in the hospital
or someone has passed away,
that should be a reminder for all of
us
that rarely, verily we are for Allah, and
to him we will return. We are on
this earth for Allah. We have no ultimate
control.
So when the brother was mentioning the accident,
it was statements of recognition of the Qadr,
recognition of Allah's knowledge and predestination.
Because that is a protective
mechanism
against
Jezreel,
against being impatient.
And being impatient
is saying, I'm in this situation. I kinda
like, why would Allah put me in this
situation? You know, the prophet, he visited an
old man and he said, let us support
it inshallah. He said, what do you mean
to hold on? I'm having this sickness, this
fever, and it's eating me up, and it's
gonna make me it's gonna make me to
cover.
He says, it's gonna make me visit the
grave. You know, the prophet, he said,
He said,
brothers, if you can come up and leave
space for your brothers, Insha'Allah, you can squeal
up. The
prophet said, then. He said, okay. If that's
what you say, then fine.
Right? It's important to have that spirit when
visiting the person
to be someone that up uplifts their spirits
because it is a very difficult situation.
And I'm almost sure
that each and every single one of us
knows someone that has a relative or we
are relatives
of someone suffering in one of these countries.
I'm very sure that each and every one
of us has visited someone in the hospital.
So don't forget this particular dua,
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam would also
say when entering upon someone,
The prophet
when you enter, he would make dua for
the person and say, oh, Allah, the lord
of the mankind.
Relinquish this disease or this pain that this
person is facing.
And
cure him or her.
Why?
You are the ultimate cure.
There is no cure except your your cure.
The the the cure that does not allow
the disease to the disease to prolong inside
of that person.
This is important
that we as Muslims practice these sunan,
these practices from the prophet
because not to sound cliche, when we practice
the sunnah of the prophet
it increases
our closeness to Allah,
which can serve indirectly
or directly as a means of increasing that
person's iman.
Because whenever we see someone that has faced
a challenge,
we can indirectly look at it as an
opportunity,
an opportunity
to come closer to Allah,
an opportunity to remind someone about Allah. You
know, as we're sitting with this brother, he's
relating. He's showing us video and pictures, and,
you know, he's he's he's talking about it,
and every time he say, you know, SubhanAllah,
that's the Qadr of Allah. I can't I
can't be displeased. His sister-in-law was in the
next room,
in a coma. She was in a coma
and woke up. Didn't know if she was
going to wake up,
but he's praising Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. His
non Muslim relatives, daughter was non Muslim.
Young daughter,
she came to him 15 years old. She
came to him and said, I think I'm
thinking about becoming a Muslim. Why? Because so
many sisters went over there to visit. People
that don't even know me are coming to
visit me and give give me flowers.
Brothers and sisters, let's take a step back,
It's important that we take a step back
and just look at the the the blueprint
of Islam.
Like, we understand that Islam is from Allah.
The system, the framework that Allah has set
up for us to practice.
Let's not get in this mentality
of I'm practicing Islam for me. Yes. You
are.
But you have to understand
when you practice to the best of your
ability and I'm not saying practice as though
it is monolithic
I'm or black and white. We all have
our struggles.
But when they see you try your best
to practice and you're doing that, it has
a rippling effect on those around you.
And you won't even know. And that is
the manifestation of.
That is the manifestation of guidance.
So brothers and sisters, whenever we see or
face or hear about pain,
know that it is an opportunity
for us to come closer to Allah.
Know that pain requires a process.
It is not overnight. It is not in
one second. And if it it it it's
possible that it could be that way based
on the type of pain that you're facing
and your wherewithal, what you're able to handle.
Maybe it was previous trauma that you faced,
and then you're facing it again. You know
how to handle it. Maybe you could be
someone that gives someone advice that's that faces
that similar type of trauma.
That pain was a way that Allah is
waking you up to teach you something
and a way
listen. A way that Allah is using you
as a means to teach someone else something.
Do not discount the pain by being displeased
with the fact that the pain exists.
The pain is from Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala,
knowledge.
It is what he has written. It is
from his will, and it is what he
has created. His predestination.
What he is allowed for a divine wisdom
that it is none of our business to
know all the time why it happened. But
we know for sure that it happened in
front of
us. That is what is most important. What
do you do when that pain is there?
And how do you act? Because make no
mistake,
it is a test from your creator
to place something in front of you that
you don't want.
And that test
is not going to be easy.
But know for sure
that the severity of the pain, the reward
is contingent upon the severity of the pain.
The more you outlast that pain,
the more you deal with it,
the more you remember Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
The more you thank Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Every single time you face that pain, as
the prophet said, not a thorn pricks a
believer, A
thorn. A thorn
pricks a believer,
except that it'll serve as expiation.
Well, I went to see one sister,
she couldn't even move. She said, all of
a sudden, I'm facing pain in my midsection,
and it's it's radiating everywhere.
Just went through a situation with her spouse.
They're separated,
and she's facing this pain,
but she's remembering a lot. She's patient.
She's saying, I went around to these physicians.
Maybe is there an opportunity to see someone
that does a and that reads Quran?
They're patients.
They're patients,
and they're active in their hearts. Their iman
is active.
So brothers and sisters,
use this as an opportunity
to remind you
of how blessed you are as a Muslim.
And I say Muslim because
you have an anchor to go back to.
Allah
is the one that he's the repository
that you turn to. He's the one that
you empty yourself
to.
You totally empty yourself, and you exhaust yourself
with trust with the trust in him,
with love with loving him.
That is very important in times of anguish.
So when seeing this in these these stories,
brothers and sisters, when visiting this brother,
it was very, very beautiful because we didn't
even realize it. We were talking. We were
laughing. And then we started to make fun
of each other, the brothers that we were
visiting him. And he said something so powerful.
He said, man, brothers, I needed this.
I needed the brotherhood.
I needed this. He just lie he started
laughing. He said, I just really I really
needed this.
We didn't even realize it.
So brothers and sisters, if you can,
if you can,
anytime
this week before next Jum'ah,
to go and visit someone
that is suffering from pain.
Psychological,
physical,
spiritual.
Go and visit someone that is suffering through
some kind of pain. If they're in another
country and you know them, write them a
letter.
And I would prefer that you write with
a pencil or pen, and you send it
via mail. Because they're going to wonder, what
is this mail? It must be something important.
They couldn't send an email? No. Because it
shows the the the gravity of the matter.
So remembering, brothers and sisters, that Allah
that he is able to do all things,
and whatever he puts in front of us,
we want to handle it in a way
that increases our iman, purifies our sins, and
serves as an influence on on those around
us to remember him and be grateful.
Allah help the weak Muslims all over the
earth.
All our help our brothers and sisters in
Gaza and in China and in Sudan.
And in Burman Yara Bilalamin and Rahingi Yara
Bilalamin.
And
in and the remembrance of Allah is the
greatest thing and Allah is well aware of
what you do. Establish the prayer.
Those that know know how I get down.
I'm
about to pray.
So I take the little have the baby
next with the constraint