Abdur Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera – Dealing the Loss of Loved Ones (COVID19)
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hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen wa salatu salam ala Murthy Ramadan,
Lila al Amin vida, he or Safi or Baraka was seldom at the Sleeman
cathedral Eli Yomi Dean and my bad Oh dear brothers, sisters dear all
of my Quran, Allah subhana wa Tada bless you all. Were going through
some difficult times Allah subhanaw taala speaks about death
in the Quran in numerous verses. Allah subhanaw taala says we're
not gonna have enough sin and the mother in law isn't Allah He Kitab
and what agenda Well, may you read sir but dunya naughty him in one
minute it's our herbal tea team in her was energy shakin then Allah
subhanaw taala says could Luna have seen the cultural note we're
in number two a phone that was Eurocom Yeoman theum feminazi ha
and in our world cradle Jen for God first woman higher woman
higher to dunya Illa material Hooroo ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada says,
I no matter who you drink Kool Moe to welcome to the Guru Ji Masha
Yoda. And again Allah subhanho wa Taala says what will lead to yet
our third can be labeled.
Were either more Majira to me now. Some may have so comfy Leo, Kedah
Jello mucem some HTML Jericho, some are gonna be welcome Macoun
Tammy doin? Well, who will call hero phulkari Buddy, he will you
will see to it come have other hat either. Como totowa Tooru Soluna
or whom la youfor a boon. So we both know from Scripture. And we
also know from experience that everybody is going to die. And
just one simple test how many of us are there who,
whose great, great grandfather's are still alive. In fact, our
great great grandfather's, we probably don't even know them. Our
great grandfather's, some of us may have seen them, otherwise,
they've gone and everybody of that age has probably gone as well. So
it's something which is built in innately in the human being, after
so many centuries after so many millennia, from RMIT Saddam's time
to this time of seeing that people die. So it's hardwired, in our
understanding in our outlook, that we are going to die one day. Now,
the leaders of many of these Silicon Valley firms who have made
huge amounts of money, one of the
one of those who actually founded I think it was PayPal, Thiel, his
name is I think, out of the over 2 billion profit that he made is a
huge chunk of money that these people, Larry Ellison from Oracle,
I think he is he's actually putting some huge amount of money
in longevity studies in trying to keep people alive forever. Now,
that's something they can waste their time in, they can waste the
they can waste their money. And but as you know, as we know it,
death is an inevitable event. And it's something that will happen to
all of us. Now, during this time, during this particular time of the
pandemic, when Allah subhanho wa Taala with literally a jar full of
viruses, meaning viruses of the entire world that are creating
this chaos. And these lockdowns and people losing their jobs and
industries being effected in a really, really, really severe way.
All of the viruses of the world can probably be put into a single
jar, and that is basically brought the whole world to a standstill.
You know, so many industries have been effective, some have been
destroyed and SubhanAllah. So many, so much of a difference. So
there's a lot of people around us that are sick. And we know a lot
of people who are sick. I mean, probably every one of us have had
some kind of sickness, or know at least some people within our
family or friend circle who have who are sick, or maybe who even
died. I mean, there are
so many cases like that. I mean, subhanAllah there are cases with
multiple people being dying, actually, you know, okay, we have,
we have people where there's multiple people in the family all
sick. And then yeah, in some cases, we have people where only
some people are sick. We have some cases where multiple people in a
single family die. So for example, just somebody told me that there's
a husband who died yesterday, his wife had died two weeks ago. We've
got cases where the husband dies. And a few hours later in another
hospital or two days later, the wife dies and then the son, the
oldest son, he's also in hospital, and none of them know that the
other person has died yet. You know, what times are we living in?
I mean Subhanallah I mean, at least in our lifetime, we've never
experienced something like this where you cannot even go to see
your loved ones where if you're lucky, you might be able to have a
video call with them. And many instances they die you know very
soon and there's nobody there to even give them the the Kalima or
the induced comas. I mean, I don't think in our lifetime, we, we've
actually seen anything, anything of this nature. Now, what you have
to understand is that there have been times in history where people
have seen this, right, or similar things to this, for example, if
you look at 16th, century London, right, you had plagues visiting
London, you know, in the 16th century, and then you had the
Vikings age, right, where they would come and basically cut
people's throat. And, you know, that's just looking at the West, I
mean, in the East, in other countries of the world that, you
know, there's many things that have happened. I mean, if you look
at North, North America, as well, you know, what's happened to the
indigenous people people have, this is not something unique. This
may be unique in terms of a small virus, but even then we've had,
we've had plagues, and so on, and so forth. It's just that in our
recent history, in kind of our timeline, we've never seen this,
we never expected this, we actually thought that we've gotten
rid of so many different, you know, because we've not seen a
plague for a very long time, and may we not see a plague ever,
inshallah. So we thought that all of this kind of thing had been
pretty much taken away. I mean, even in current times, there are
places where war has taken place. So it's a man made problem, right?
You know, it's not due to a virus or a bacteria, or a plague or
something. It's a man made problem where people are insecure in their
homes, they've lost people, and so on. So this is, I mean, this is
life. I mean, unfortunately, this is life. It's just that it's
happened now, in the case of it's happened to developing countries.
So that's why I mean, we feel why are we so bothered about the
pandemic? I mean, that's the question I'm asking when these
similar things to this would have been the norm, you know, for many
people in history at, you know, at different times. Now, the other
thing is that, you know, death is nothing new. So people are dying
from this, but death is also nothing new. Right? So would you
call it we're already living in an age where we have, you know,
cancer, people are dying of cancer, people are dying of AIDS,
syphilis, train accidents, car accidents, bike accidents,
paralysis, you know, people are suffering from air raids in
certain countries, you know, so let's not try to exaggerate the
novelty of this pandemic. I mean, it is novel, in a sense, because,
but in terms of what it's doing, right, it's not entirely novel in
the history of this world. I mean, I'm sure people have suffered even
worse than this. So even before the pandemic came around, you
know, even before there was any pandemic, you have to remember
that we were all sentenced to death already, before any virus
was released before any virus was detected. We all had a death
sentence that's basically been hanging over our head since the
day were born anyway, right from Allah subhanaw taala. And many of
us out of those, you know, other people who have died, and who were
going to die, even if there was not a pandemic, there were many
people who are going to die in unpleasant, unpleasant ways,
because people have always died in unpleasant ways, whether that be,
you know, being attacked by an animal, whether that be in an
accident, whether that be by falling off, whether that be some
consuming something, whether it be an overdose, whether that be
somebody murdering them, I mean, we've had all of these things,
it's just that this has become like more of a single close based
on a small virus, the virus that can essentially fit in a bottle,
that would be sufficient for for the entire world. Subhan Allah
SubhanAllah. So basically, what the virus has done is that it's
just added one additional method, one additional excuse to die,
that's what it's done. Right? It's one additional excuse to die. And
it's everybody's fearful of it. So you know, see, everybody's not
fearful of a car accident necessarily, or from an overdose
of something, maybe just people into drugs or other addictions,
they may be. But what this virus has done is that it's just created
something overall for everybody to be worried about. Right. So that
is what this Coronavirus this seems to be, you know how it's
causing a pandemic, sorry, a panic rather.
And I think in the West, we've just been, we just had a sense of
security for a very long time. And that's why, you know, many of the
people listening today will probably be immigrants or children
of immigrants, descendants of immigrants, we've come to the
west, you know, whose forefathers came to the West because of
security and stability, good health care, you know, longevity,
and people not dying of, you know, from a natural reasons. So often,
although, you know, we've had problems in the West as well. So
now, for a very long time, you know, we've had this sense of
security in the West, right? From lots of ailments that used to be
prevalent over millennia, right? And also, they're still prevalent
in many, many, you know, in many, many parts of the world, even even
today.
So, what is the reason that we get so worried and Well, the reason we
get worried out of all of this, the reason we get worried in all
of this, right? The biggest thing is that you reminds us of our
mortality that we're also going
Today, that's essentially what it reminds us of. It just shows us
how helpless we are. It shows us that the people we trusted to keep
us safe, how helpless they are, how the politicians themselves,
who make the laws, how other people who bring security and
everything, everybody's in this together, and everybody is
vulnerable. So it reveals essentially what it does is that
it reveals that we as human beings cannot really be in control of
everything. Right? We can't remain in control because Allah subhanaw
taala, has Juno's has has has armies, you know that he can do
whatever he wishes with them. That's the first point is for us
to think about this vulnerability, that humanity has been made
vulnerable. Humanity has understood their weakness. So in
sha Allah in sha Allah, this pandemic will end, this pandemic
will end everything ends in this world. And likewise, bad things
end as well. And when it ends, then we're hopefully going to be
better people, hopefully, we are already better people. Otherwise,
the lesson in this, that Allah subhanaw taala wants to give us
that's going to be lost. And we want to come out of this after
having suffered this entire this entire journey, this journey this
year journey that people have gone through, right? What's the benefit
of it? What are we going to get out of this? What's to be gotten
from this, if we're not better people, and we're not closer to
Allah, at least as Muslims, you've got something to understand and
make sense of this. That this is not necessarily all senseless.
There's a purpose behind this. That's the point of being a
believer that philosophically, theologically, we have a reason
why these things happen. And we can actually carry a lot of reward
out of this. So you can imagine it as a computer game where you have
to do this difficult task of going through these arduous terrain, and
the circumstances and there's lots of challenges. Now, the good thing
is that Allah subhanaw taala says, if you have somebody and if you
have patience, and if you remember Allah subhanaw taala, and you have
Tawakoni, Allah subhanho, wa taala, and you do the right thing,
and you keep the right emotion, of patience and reliance on Allah
subhanho wa taala, you will actually get closer to Allah, you
will even those who die among you could could be martyrs. So there's
a lot of good things that come out of this. So you have to remember,
going on to my second point now is that the people who have died,
because our discussion is about basically how to manage death, and
how to what we can do for the deceased and those who have died
and those who are sick, that what's our responsibility, right?
What can we do to help them because that's an emotional human
feeling that we have. So the first thing we have to understand,
right? There's one thing that bothers a lot of people that
people when when loved ones die in a pandemic, right have died in the
pandemic. And yes, it's true, that there's a lot of people who have
died younger than we would have expected. All right, so they've
died at the age of 55 or 60. I mean, that's kind of, you know, an
age that you don't expect people to die they still consider that to
be young, and the Prophet sallallahu Sallam according to
him, he died at the age of 62. And he said that there's there's
traditions that mentioned Merle Almighty, being 16 was a Marine,
that the lives of my ummah are between 60 to 70. Of course,
there's people who live beyond 70. And as people who die before 60,
but generally between 60 to 70, is when people die. And I think the
profits or loss I'm getting at the age of 62, sallallahu alayhi
wasallam overcrowded, the Alon also died two years later around
the same age ometer, the Allah one who's died also about 10 years or
so later around at the same age. And earlier, the Allah one oz also
apparently died around the same age. Right? The Almighty Allah was
not really alone, he died. I mean, he lived a lot longer he died at
around the age of 80 or so. So he died a lot longer. And we're not
saying that's a certain age today, because death is in the hands of
Allah subhanho wa taala. One thing that I want to establish, though,
that anybody who's died, I mean, we get this thought, we get this
idea that they've died before the age, anybody who's died in a
pandemic, or any other kind of, you know, there's people who are
murdered, I know, in Toronto, there was, there was a Muslim kid,
may Allah may Allah bless him, you know, may Allah forgive him, there
was a Muslim, Muslim, youth, young young man who died just I think,
in the last week or so, right? Or maybe a week or two ago who died,
you know, being shuttered or something of that nature. So
people are going to die and we feel that people have died before
their time. This is just human reaction, to feel that right now,
we have to remember that everybody dies at their time, they could not
have live longer, right? less diverse is a quote in the
beginning they make it very clear, right that Allah subhanaw taala
has a time for everyone, even before we were created before our
parents were created. In fact, before the mighty son was created,
everybody's life and death was written that's not within our
freewill. You know, in terms of our prayer, our salah, what we
eat, how we conduct ourselves what we do to others that we do based
on freewill, though Allah subhanaw taala knows about it, but we do it
based on freewill, but when we
die, that is a death that comes and Allah subhanaw taala already
knows the causes of these things from eternity. So nobody dies
earlier than their age Yes, because of the way they died, and
they died before the age of 70 or so we feel that a life has been
cut short for them. So we for some reason, we feel a bit more
miserable. But if we look at the grand scheme of things, from
Allah's perspective, that was when they were going to die, whether
there was a pandemic, or there was no pandemic, he's already
designated that. Why do we Why do we feel like that for?
Why do we feel like that? Why do we feel worse when somebody dies
and unnatural death as opposed to dying? You know, through just
normal causes? Why do we feel that I think it reminds us of our own
mortality, right, because what it's doing is that it's actually
breaking the norm that we're used to, we're used to people dying
after the age of 6570. All right, or we know that somebody's going
to die because they're very, very sick, and they've had cancer for
five years, or six years, or they've got a debilitating
disease. So we kind of expected, but when somebody would never had
any of these things, and indeed, they've died in the pandemic,
right, what it does is that humans like routine humans, like custom
humans, like habit, things that are predictable, they don't like
to be, you know, they don't like to be caught out by surprises. So
what happens is, when you get caught out by a surprise, like
this, regarding a friend or a family member or somebody else,
then we feel like we could be caught out like that as well. So
actually, it reminds us, it makes us worried, and that is good, that
is good that it makes us worried for ourselves. Right? It should
make us worried for ourselves, it should not just make it a source
of complaint to Allah subhanaw taala. So we can also die before
the age of 70. And that's something that we should be
thinking about. Now, the third point I want to make, then, once
we've covered those aspects, is that for those people now who have
died, let us understand, you know, how did you know how they could be
dealing with this? So what is the position of those who have died
through COVID-19, for example, because that's what's in front of
us right now. You know, we're feeling bad that there's people
who've died, right. SubhanAllah. So a lot of people are asking the
question, right, which is very closely related to this is
COVID-19 a punishment? Right? Did you guys ever consider that
question is COVID-19 a punishment? So I'm going to try to understand
that question and try to answer it. So the answer of it answer for
this question about whether COVID-19 or any pandemic for that
matter, whether it's a punishment or not, it's a it's not an easy
question to answer. All right, it's not a simple question. The
reason is that Allah subhanaw taala is multifaceted. Allah
subhanho wa Taala has everything at his disposal. Allah subhanho wa
Taala is Latif, Allah subhanho wa Taala is Aleem Allah subhanho wa
Taala is extremely sophisticated, Allah is so subtle, Allah subhanho
wa Taala is so multi dimensional, Allah subhanho wa Taala can do so
many things at once. There's an infinite number of things that are
going on at the same time, right that Allah subhanaw taala can do
and be in charge of all of these things. So I think the one thing
that we can say is that somebody that COVID-19 is different things.
So this is the answer. COVID-19 is different things for different
people. And you can maybe have an idea of what it is for ourselves,
right, depending on our reaction to it. That's one way to tell
that's a sign to figure out what COVID-19 is, for me what COVID-19
is for an individual, any individual, it depends on how we
react to any challenges in this world. This is a way to find out
about any challenges, whether that may be a small leak in your house
from the roof, whether that may be that you've got a problem with
your car, and you have to get it fixed, as it depends. So you've
had you've got a mole, you know, you've got a cell phone contract,
and they've overcharged you now you have to spend time in trying
to correct the issue with the phone representatives. That's a
difficulty. You know, that's a challenge that's, you know, that's
come about, how do we rate how do we react to these things is what's
going to, you know, maybe help to determine
what this is for us. So now, the simple thing is that it could be
one of three things broadly speaking, it could be many things,
but it could be broadly speaking three things. The first thing is
that when we have a difficult let's say we become sick with
COVID, right, or somebody close to us become sick with COVID. And
there we, you know, we start thinking that, you know, all of
this difficulty, it's, it's I know now what it is, you know, last
week or last month, two weeks ago, you know, I said these bad things
to such and such a person. I acted unfairly, I saw something that was
wrong. I spoke to somebody that I should not have been speaking I
bet I went a bit over over the limit in this or that or maybe I
cheated here or that. I missed my prayer. You
No, I wasn't really punctual on my prayers, you know, whatever it is,
it makes us think that this is something going on here is
something that destabilize in my life in my action. So Allah
subhanaw taala is sending this upon me. If that is the case, and
we then make Toba and we repent and we seek forgiveness, then this
challenge for us, this challenge for us is very simple. It's a
source of purification. It is not a punishment, it's a source of
purification. Because inevitably, it's what we do with it. Right
now, it might seem as a punishment, but actually we're
getting closer to Allah because we're purifying ourselves. So this
is a source of purification, this is this gear. On the other hand,
if we think back, you know, where we've got a problem with our car,
or our bill or something tore or something, something happened, or
we had a bit of a bruise or a graceful, little accident, or, you
know, we've got a wound that's come out or a big boil that's
appeared, God forbid, God forbid, right? Somebody's lost a child.
You know, somebody's had some major upset an upheaval at work,
businesses gone down. Last the big contract, you know, subhanAllah
there's just so many different things that could have happened.
If you think if you think back and you think I can't think of any
sins, I genuinely cannot think of anything that I've done wrong. But
then you saying look, it's up to Allah, He has given me so much
good in this world. He's given me so much. I mean, my whole
existence is a bounty is a blessing of Allah subhanaw taala
This is a bit of a difficulty. That's what Allah wants. Let me
just make somewhere I know what my responsibilities and levena Is
that a cyber Tomasi mahalo in the law, we're in LA Raj your own
dough, those who went to mercy but attacks them, when they when they
have a challenge when they have some kind of difficulty, and a
calamity befalls them. They say, you know, we belong to Allah as
well to him, we're eventually going to return. So I've got this
loss, right, right now we're going to return. If we think that then
this will raise our status in the sight of Allah. This will make us
closer to Allah subhanaw taala. Now, think about it this way, the
challenges there already. We've already suffered right now this is
suffering we've already suffered. Now, is it worth going through
this suffering and not getting anything out of it? Just
basically,
having all of this aggravation, having all of this anxiety and not
getting anything out of it? Is it worth it? That's why people of
faith have a huge benefit have a huge potential. When suffering
comes suffering is inevitable in this world suffering is going to
happen. We've never been guaranteed a suffer suffer a life
free of suffering. Right suffering has been there since Adam Ali
salaam Stein, when Kaabil killed, horrible suffering had already
begun. And people suffered right people have always suffered. And
Allah subhanho wa Taala is the loving God. He is the merciful
God. He is the graceful God. He is the he is the gracious God. He is
the benevolent Lord. He is the Generous Lord. And He is the
extremely loving Lord. But at the same time, he also tells us He is
the kahar He is the one with mighty is the one the Vanquisher
he is the one that will attack him. He can avenge he can punish
Allah subhanaw taala talks about his punishments in the Quran,
Allah subhanaw taala says he can avenge and he everything is under
his control. So Allah subhanaw taala is all of these things. We
don't have the concept of Christianity of just a loving God,
we have a very, very loving God that we're doing and Myrna Rahim,
and surely His mercy and definitely, indeed, His mercy has
overcome his, his, his anger, but he, he can have anger, and he can
have all of these other things. And those are what manifests in
the world. That's the reality. So let us not constrain our concept
of God and then have a problem of why they're suffering and why
babies die sometimes, or why the feeble die, sometimes it's
inevitable. That's what the world is all about. And that's what's
going to happen. So
it's how we react going back to that point. Now, the third point
that the third reaction would be that somebody has a problem and
they freak out, and they start complaining, and they're like, Why
me? What's wrong? What have I done wrong? You know, Is God really
there is God.
I mean, now with a biller, they say other things, right? Say Can
God only find me this is if they still even have some kind of
belief in God. Others would say, they can't be a god because
they're suffering and God has to be merciful. But God never told
you that he's only merciful, He said, that I am so many other
things as well as we know from the 99 names. So if if somebody is led
to this because of a mistaken theology, or a mistaken idea, or
just not knowing and unawareness, or ignorance and not not checking
it out, not understanding what Allah subhanaw taala is not
understanding that Tawheed then that means this is a punishment
for them. So now when people have died out of COVID, right, it
depends on what their state was. If somebody died with a lot of
complaints and everything, then I leave that to Allah.
subhanaw taala but if somebody died with a lot of patience, they
knew that they were just doing the bidding of Allah. Allah was in
complete control. And they were just doing whatever Allah wanted.
And they were, according to that, then you know, in sha Allah, maybe
it will be Shahadat for them. So you see, that's the benefit for
us. My mother passed away from about 10 years ago, 11 years ago,
actually more about 12 years ago, suffering after suffering for 10
years with cancer. She suffered from cancer. May Allah have mercy
on her. She suffered from cancer for about 10 years. But I have to
say that mashallah she felt all alone. Right. Now, there were very
difficult times going through chemotherapy and everything, but
Masha Allah, she had a lot of patients, she had a lot of summer.
And I think she knew that she was going to go in a few days when it
came to the last moment. That's why she wanted to come out of
hospital, and she just wanted to be taken home, but she wouldn't
say anything else. And when she came home, she said nothing else.
She hardly said anything else. And she made all the preparations
before that, of telling us you know, what's going to work, you
know, your dad will help you do this and that, all the rest of it.
Now, she she she died after 10 years now for me, she died. And I
think that she's a martyr because she died due to illness and in the
hadith of our school, allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, there
are approximately 70 up to 70 categories of people that are
considered a category of martyr. Right? And remember, martyrdom is
one of those actions in Islam that has this huge, profound instant
reward. Right? You know,
what's so amazing about martyrs, right? And when you're talking
about martyrs, we're talking about warriors are people who die
actively in the path of Allah subhanaw taala, right, fighting in
the path of Allah, that's what we're, that's what a martyr
generally is. Not martyr, they, the reward of a martyr is before
the blood reaches the ground, their sins are forgiven, then
there's huge amounts of reward. I mean, Allah has prepared 100
degrees levels in paradise, right, which are specifically for
martyrs, and between the first level and the second level is like
between the Earth and the first heaven. I mean, it's huge. It's,
it's just mind bogglingly huge. Another thing is Allah subhanaw
taala says, well attack salmonella, you know, co T visa
vie de la, um, water, those who die in the path of Allah fighting
in the path of Allah, they are not considered to be, don't consider
them to be, you know, dead in the normal way that you understand
people to be dead. In fact, the Earth does not consume and
decompose the bodies of martyrs. And this is not just something we
learned from Hadith, but this has been seen by observation. And
there's only two categories of people that are given this merit,
this vallila this virtue, it's the prophets and the martyrs. Now,
these are and then the other thing is the martyrs, their souls, once
they die, their souls go into paradise, right, and they are in
the they are inside, in the form of green birds are inside of these
green birds, then they fly around paradise and this other
generations as well about that they have a very, very special
category. So the Prophet said Allah was mentioned approximately
up to 70 additional categories of people including those who die
from stomach ailments those who die you know in different types of
accidents or natural causes. Our teacher Monona, Hashem Patel's
Masha Allah, may Allah may Allah relieve him of his difficulties,
and may Allah give him a good life. He's written a book on this
and I'm hoping that somebody in sha Allah can put this into
English because I think at this point in time, it creates a lot of
hope. So I think my mother has has has died as a matter of the
hereafter. They're not the you know, the 70 or so categories,
they're not going to die, they're not going to be considered this
exact same as somebody who actively dies, you know, fighting
in the path of Allah subhanaw taala. Those are considered to be
people who are shaheed and martyrs of this world and the Hereafter,
and people who die in these ailments of these unnatural
causes. They are considered to be martyrs of the hereafter. So we
deal with them as normal people who die, we bathed them, we shout
them and we bury them and we pray, pray upon them and everything
else. But in the in the Hereafter, they come up as martyrs. I think
that my mother is in sha Allah Mata that makes me feel much
better Hamdulillah that her suffering was not for nothing.
Now, an atheist if they if they die, or if they Auntie or their
mother has died out of cancer in a similar way, what are they going
to get out of it? You know, how do they cope with this they died for
nothing because they don't believe anything and they had a miserable
miserable life as well so they don't get anything out of it. Now
I I feel comforted by the fact that this happens that it's she's
probably a martyr I'm giving you just the example of my mother
right who died over 10 years ago. Right but you can relate this to
insha Allah your own disease people write that in sha Allah
there Marta, if they did well in sha Allah, if they did well, right
and we can do a lot to inshallah help them as well. So now, the
eighth is going to tell me that you know when you say that, Oh,
They died as a martyr and you feel good about it. You're just, that's
just the that's just your way of saying this. That's just your
coping mechanism. That is, that is just the way to make yourself feel
good. You know, it's just the feel good factor. So then my response
would be that okay, fine, at least I've got a feel good factor, which
I believe in and it makes me feel good Hamdulillah. Is there
anything wrong with that? What's wrong with it? Even if it's a feel
good factor? It's not. We believe in what our messengers Allah has
told us, we believe in that. But even if it is just the feelgood
factor, just from a human perspective, why why should we
not? You know, why should we not at least be able to cope and have
a coping mechanism? That's why people with faith are faring much
better than people without faith, because they've got something
they've got a bigger picture, they've got something to go for.
So you should really thank Allah subhanaw taala, for what He has
given us. So that's a very, very important thing. That's a very,
very important thing. So that was the third point of, you know, is
COVID a punishment or not? And I said that the it's it's a
complicated idea. It's a complicated issue. And it depends
on the person that it has afflict afflicted and what is done for
them. Okay, what is done for them, there are people who are
suffering, who are struggling to eat to struggling, their
businesses are going down, you know, they are suffering losses in
that regard. It just depends on how they're going to react. Right?
It just depends on how they're going to react. Now, the next
point, then, the fourth point that I'm going to speak about today, is
what do we do for the people who have gone now? Right? What do we
do for those who are sick? So this is this is these are two different
points? What do we do for those who are suffering in sickness?
Whether that be ourselves or someone else? What do we do? Let's
start with that one. Firstly, there is no problem with having a
release of emotion with shedding a few tears with crying, right and
crying to Allah subhanaw taala. There's nothing wrong with that.
And actually says that if you when you when you suffer a loss, like
the loss of a, you know, a loved one, that it's actually sometimes
good to release that emotion. And the Prophet SAW awesome showed us
that he did this as well, when his grandchild passed away, he wept a
few tears and some of the Sahaba were surprised by this. And he
said, Look, this is just humanity. This is just the in sun. This is
just the Rama in a person's heart that this is this is a
an emotional release of the and there's nothing wrong with that
what he had prohibited against the Prophet sallallahu sallam was
obviously the NIA which is this veiling and rending the garments
and shrieking and putting out the hair, which was done as a
profession, which was done as something that people would be
hired to do. So they had no feeling they will just do this, it
was a tradition that you did, you know, like, people have these
traditions that at the wedding, they must we must bring some
dancers, right, or we must bring some music, or we must bring this
or that. It's just they do something. It's all pretenses at
the end of the day, right. So that is what that is what was
prohibited, but other ways to release some emotion is good. And
people actually say that if you keep it all pent up, then actually
that can be bad for you sometimes as well. So just released a
motion, that's fine. But the best thing is to actually really
release the emotion to Allah subhanaw taala when you feel like
crying, cry to Allah subhanaw taala. Now, I'm going to mention
to you that when somebody is sick, there are, of course, there's DHA,
right? But in addition to DHA, and so on, and the patience and our
focus on Allah and reliance on him and just focusing on him. Of
course, we can, you know, we use medicines, and we try to acquire a
cure for ourselves, we do all of that. But in addition to that,
there are some actions which are very, very beneficial. And one of
them is giving a lot of sadaqa. Right, giving a lot of sadaqa is
extremely, extremely beneficial. You know, when chef Yunus
our
Schakel Hadith from sovereign poor who passed away just what is it
about two years ago now, so, right Rahima, hula was one of our
teachers who was with him at the time of the Shabbat. So he's
saying that Sheikh Yunus gave huge amounts of sadaqa and his illness
was critical. People thought he was gone, like he was going to be
gone. But Subhanallah he recovered from that, and we had him for some
some more time after that, and he gave huge amounts of sadaqa
recently, somebody became ill somebody I know who became ill,
and he remembered this so when he became ill, he got his laptop,
right? And he started donating and I think in I think he said that
within like half an hour or so. Right? He donated several 100
pounds, right, you know, 100 pound here 500 pound there 200 pound
here 100 count there. And you know, he'd never donated that much
in one go. I mean, he may have donated to a big cause, like you
know, where you're in a fundraising you give 1000 pounds
or something like that, he said, but but this one is just like
quickly, quickly get some money out of the way just just like
that. And mashallah, mashallah he recovered. There's also another
very interesting story that Allah subhanaw that is related by Imam
Behati In short, I will Iman I mean, subhanAllah I, you know, I
was really affected by the story.
Imam Bihac
Iraqi was one of our great Muhaddith in great archy the
scholar theologian and so on amazing you know, he's very
likable we there's a lot of books of his that are quoted like the
short I believe and the branches of our faith. He says that it's
got a chain that goes up to Abdullah hymnal, Mubarak, the
great Madison Mujahid, and he says that I'm delighted that Mubarak
was there. And somebody asked him about Abdur Rahman, you know, his
title was Abdul Rahman, he says that somebody came to him and said
to him that in my knee, I've got this boil, right, which is there
for seven years, it's been hurting me for so many. I had a boil
problem on my knee for about seven years now. Right? And I've tried
everything I've been to every doctor that I could find who could
try to cure me, I've been to every doctor and I've just not been able
to benefit the boil just resists all kinds of therapies, all kinds
of you know medicine and he won't go away. So Abdullah him
normobaric just told him he says, if her funder Modi and yajnas Ilma
for Pune Cubitron he said go go go somewhere, you know, on the
outskirts or wherever it was, and find a place where people are in
need of water, you know, where they where there's a scarcity of
water, right and go and have a well dug for them. Meaning go and
dig a well for them. For me or June, I have all hope that and
timber are gonna clean that as soon as you know, I have hope that
as soon as there is water flowing there and a stream starts from the
the wells starts from the UMC co anchor dam your blood flow from
your boil from your knee will stop as well. Now I don't know what
caused him to say that maybe you know, whatever the intuition was,
and the person did that he went and found a place had a well dug
they started a supply of water for Buddy and he became better right
he became better now today we have a lot of these opportunities, you
don't even have to go and find it yourself and dig it yourself or
you know even stand around you can actually get these relief
organizations to do this, you know, in different parts of the
world. Subhanallah Imam basically then says right I didn't see
Abdullah whom Barack is a few 100 years later, but Imam basically
says that there's actually another story of the exact same nature for
our shake, which happened with his teacher who is the famous How can
a boy Abdullah and Nisha Puri you know, who wrote the big mustard
rock is one of the big more Hadith and he was also from Nisha pool,
which is where Imam Muslim Rahim Allah was wrong, which is in Iran
today. Right? He says that Imam Hakim he got that there was a
wound a boil or something. Right huge boil or something that
appeared on his face. Right. Now that's even worse than the knee.
Maybe, you know, I'm not sure. He says again, he tried to have it
cured. He tried to get a remedy for it various different ways, and
it just wouldn't go. Right. And it was nearly a year it stayed for so
he had this problem. He's suffering from this problem for
about a year. Okay. So he went to one of his teachers. He went to
one of the squat one of the righteous Olia of the time, whose
name was Imam Abu Earthman Asad Guney abou Earthman CyberZone and
he went to as much as you know when they have the modulus of
dhikr or the Maori the Beyonce or whatever, right like if somebody
comes today to monitor him Samana has a mana bill also this Can you
please make dua for me very very similar to this right. And I'm
assuming that after this as a mana belongs, I'm one of them so we're
gonna get a huge amount of dollars to you know, for people to make
the doors for them, right.
And may Allah subhanaw taala accept this message and make him
robotic that it is the source for cure for a lot of problems. So
anyway, this is what happened. He he went to a board with mana Seibu
Rahim Allah to ask him that he made the offer for Hakeem Hakim
asked him right that can you make dua for me in your Mejlis on
Fridays that you hold in your gatherings on Fridays that you
hold, make dua for me? So likewise, with mana Cibona he
obliged and he made dua for him. And mashallah, there was so many
people there men and women and they made army they said army,
right? Oh Allah except, so when it was the next Juma for the next
gathering, right Subhanallah a woman came and she threw into the
gathering a note. I mean, this was probably similar to today where we
can do it online now, but you know, women attended the
gathering, but they would send the comments or notes or questions on
a piece of paper, she Alcott in Ratan film actually see raka B.
And she basically gave a narration about her story she narrated what
happened since last week. She said from last week, when I heard about
Imam Al Hakim and his his boy on his face. I went and I made a lot
of dua for him. Subhanallah women's two hours there are a lot
of women listening today and we would request them as well to make
dua for us as well. And for one of those people who are suffering,
right she said I really made a lot of effort in my dua for Hakeem Abu
Abdullah that night. And at that, in that night I saw the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in my dream and the prophets of Allah
symbols as if he was telling me that go and say to avoid Abdullah,
which means Abu Abdullah
Who is Abdullah Al Hakim? Right, go and inform Abu Abdullah Al
Hakim, that he should somehow expand his distribution of water
for the believers meaning somehow distribute water among the
believers. It's an essence of life water essence of life. Go go and
do that. Right? So that's why I have sent this message on this
piece of paper. So how can Masha Allah was told about this Imam
Hakim Rahim Allah was talking about this. So what he did was
outside his house, he got a what you would call today a cooler
place there, right he something to provide water and he also had ice
put in there. You know, nowadays, it would be like getting a cooler
place somewhere where people would be going past they do this and a
lot of hot countries that you you see, like in Syria, they've got a
cooler down there and it says Ilahi you know, shaken or
whatever, you know, somebody has done it for their father or their
grandfather or somebody, their mother or whatever it is. That's
what he did. And he put a lot of ice in their head, a lot of ice
and so people were you know, mashallah very satisfied with the
water as they're drinking when they're going past. Within a week,
he says, not a week had passed for Mr. Murali, who spoke had davara
shifa, not a weekend pass until he got shifa. And all of those
pimples and those other problems of his face, they they went away
with another wedge, who will accidentally McCann and became
again, pristine as it was before and after that he left for a very
long time, mashallah, for a number of years afterwards. So I'm saying
we can try this as well, if you've got yourself or a loved one who
have who have who has this issue, you know, go and get a well dug as
soon as possible and do many other good things. It's not just the
well, you can do many other things. But this is related by
Imam Bihac in a shot, I will Iman and inshallah that will be of
benefit. The last point I want to make is that for those who have
passed away, we are the only source now the prophets of Allah
Islam said in a hadith of Muslim that when a person passes away,
then his active actions they stop, they cease, they finish, he can't
do any more active actions. However, there are some sources by
which he still a person continues to receive the rewards. And that
is a southern Nigeria, some knowledge that can be benefited
from and a wonder don't salehoo near the ruler who which is
basically a child, right? A child, male or female, right that could
make to offer them. Now we are those who are left behind. And I
don't think that this is just restricted to a child, okay? If
you are a brother, and I'm sure if you make dua, Allah will accept it
as well. If you are the father, and your child has died, you're
the mother and the child has died, or your brother has died, your
uncle's died in sha Allah, if we pray for them, and we give sadaqa
for them, in sha Allah, Allah will accept that as well. I don't think
this is has to be just restricted. Generally, it's the son or the
daughter, that's generally going to be the closest who's going to
have who's going to be probably out who's going to outlive the
parents, and that's why but otherwise, all of us can be welded
on salehoo, all of us can be that in sha Allah, and I think it
benefits because if we are so inspired for our for our disease
to do that, then they they must have done something for us that we
are inspired to be able to pray for them. So there are multiple
ways we can do that. But I think one of the things that I've
learned from my teachers is a very, very, very simple thing,
right? And I'm sure Insha Allah, you can do this. And it, it
amounts to so much, but it's so easy, simple thing you do is that
after every prayer that you perform, right, so you finish your
prayer, and now you're getting up to go and do something else. As
you're getting up or before you get up. Just try to make a habit
of just reciting Kulu Allahu Allah three times now I said, there's
nothing in the Quran sunnah directly that tells us to do it
this way. But we know that certain class equates in some ways to 1/3
of the Quran. If you read it three times, whatever its rewards are,
it's a huge amount of reward for reading Quran. And pretty much
most of the Allama agree as well that you can take the reward of
your Quranic reading, right? And you can donate that to somebody
all you have to do is oh Allah recited this Quran Oh ALLAH the
reward that I am receiving from this Quran reading of three Surah
ikhlas of Allah give it to so and so. So what we're going to do as a
very simple thing is recycle Wallah who had three times the
whole sort of three times it will take us less than a minute, right?
As a habit, and then we say, Oh Allah, send the reward of this to
my parents, and send a reward of this to all my teachers and those
who have benefited me. And subhanAllah I'm going to request
that you include me into that. It's up to you, but I'm going to
request that right because in sha Allah, I'm hoping that you will
include me in this because you're you may be learning this from me.
But it adds to so much. I did it for so many years when I heard it
from my teacher, right? That Oh Allah give the reward of this to
my parents and my
My teachers
five times a day, imagine the amount of reward that you can do
the amount that this will eventually accumulate, accumulate
to, after so many days, so many years and whatever, it's a very
similar when you make a habit of it becomes very, very easy as
well. Allah give us it's all female except this from us. So
this is what we can do. And one of the best things that you can do is
to do some kind of endowment. The sadaqa that you want to find is
something that is going to last as long as possible and that's going
to have that huge, the greatest potential you can give it to a
masjid. But once messages are, you know, once mustards are being
taken care of, then I think the next best thing, right has to be
madrasahs has to be Institute's that are going to train you know,
the for LM and Allah ma May Allah subhanahu wa taala accept this
from us, may Allah allow us to think ahead, and may Allah
subhanaw taala bless our deceased and may Allah subhanho wa Taala
protect us and may Allah allow us to come out of this pandemic
better than when we entered into it and give us a better
understanding of Allah subhanho wa Taala and may Allah subhanho wa
Taala accept from all of you and bless all of those who set this
program up and bless all of you, those of you who are listening,
whilst you read that Werner and hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen