Abdur Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera – Qur’anic Reflections How to be Patient
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Salam Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh Ramadan Mubarak to you
all
are all below him in a shape on your Raji maybe Smilla rahmanir
rahim. Yeah.
You Khaled in Manos Bill wasabia who are all of you to what the
hula what the hula hula I like to flee who
sort of Allahu La him.
Dear friends, welcome back to the reflections, the Ramadan
reflections for this this year. Today we are talking about a verse
number 200 of Saudi Arabia Imran verse 200 of Saudi Arabia and
Iran. Essentially what Allah subhanho wa Taala is saying here
is all people who believe is true, in do with patience, have
patience, exercise, patience, and wasabi rule.
That means and mutually assist one another impatience or mutually
encourage one another to patients. So be patient yourself and
encourage one another impatience as well. And then Warabi to
Robidoux comes from the concept of robots, which basically means to
guard your territory by putting up gods and protection. So God will
protect your your territory, and what duckula And fear Allah, be
God conscious, be conscious of Allah subhanaw taala, so that you
may gain success. So in this very short verse, Allah subhanho wa
Taala is giving us the recipe for success. And he says that this
will lead to your success. So that is how Muslims should proceed,
especially in the face of difficulties. Because whenever you
hear the word patience, you think of difficulty. You think of
trials, you think of calamities, you think of maybe even
persecution and oppression, as is found, as is being felt by many,
many Muslims around the world in different places. So what Allah
subhanaw taala does here in this verse is that he directs believers
to bear with patients, to bear with their conditions, to bear
with their conditions that they're facing of difficulty. And
difficult difficulty is always relative. There's obviously places
in the world right now that are going through much more difficulty
than us. We have our own difficulties, every nation has its
difficulties, there's always difficulty because difficulties
can come in various different ways.
There is there are difficulties related to one's family, there are
difficulties related to one's person. So a person may be going
through a difficulty by themselves and yet other people might be
going through a difficulty with their family, their whole family's
racked by a difficulty, for example, let's just say that one
member of the family is having a tough time in marriage and maybe
facing a divorce, that normally ends up causing everybody
distress, because if everybody's concerned, unfortunately, there
are families where
the individual is alone. And while they have brothers and sisters and
parents, but nobody's interested, they're not willing to assist
them, they've literally left them alone. And they're not assisting
them. So you do get that situation as well. But a lot of the time,
you know, calamities can be of different types, then you have
calamities, for example that are community based, so there's an
issue with the masjid or with the local council or the local laws or
the local issues of somebody vandalizing the masjid or maybe it
is somebody trying to stop the masjid or bad neighbors unruly
behavior. Maybe there's kidnappings going on, as there are
cases like that in South Africa or there are you know, just threats.
So there could be various different types of calamities and
difficulties people are facing. So Allah subhanaw taala is saying
here, that you need to create an ambience create an environment of
perseverance, and urging one another to patients that that
really needed where, you know, it's really difficult for a person
to be patient by themselves sometimes. But when you get
encouragement from one another, that adds a whole real, real
emotional dimension to it. And it makes it much much easier. Humans
have always been I mean, humans were created as social beings as
social, as social beings in the in the sense that we relate to one
another, we deal with one another. We relate to one another and we
take comfort and solace from one another. We mutually assist one
another. It affects us what we do for one another and what other
people do. So that's why this verse
is encouraging that a person is
taking care of one another, even in the face of difficulty, don't
just suffer alone. And don't just try to deal with it alone, but
actually assist one another in doing so. And if you assist
somebody else people have seen they you can assist yourself
because when you encourage other people, you kind of distancing
yourself to a certain degree and you're trying to assist somebody
else. And psychologically, what that shows you is that what your,
your difficulty is lighter, because you're willing to go and
assist somebody else in doing that. And then after that, it's
saying, defend your country at tears, defend your boundaries.
Now, that could be of course, in the major concept of defending
your area in terms of where there's a war going on, right,
like the case of Ukraine, Ukraine, and then Russia and so on. Right.
And like we've seen in many other places, the Palestine, the
situation in Palestine is very, very similar. I mean, it's
completely up to you. There's cases like this we're talking
about right now in India, I was just with a Muslim scholar just
came from India, and he's saying it's really bad in some places,
and
so defend your frontiers. And then finally, Allah subhanaw taala ends
this with the command to have taqwa and to have God
consciousness. And then he says that if you do this, then you will
gain pay, you will be successful. So that's really the interesting
thing. Because at the end of the day, everything is realized
through Allah subhanaw taala. Because he's in control of
everything. Allah is the all powerful Allah is the color there
his democrator, there he is the capable the omnipotent, and he is
the enlisting and are all seeing. So at the end of the day, God
consciousness is definitely going to help a Gunj consciousness here,
the taqwa here is meant in a number of different ways. So one
of the ways that it's meant in is that you are fearful of Allah
subhanho wa taala, that you don't do any wrong. In this regard.
Let's just say that you've been able to remove the calamity,
you've been able to defend yourself, you've been able to
remove the aggression, to thwart the enemies, you've been able to
gain victory, right? You've been able to gain the upper hand and
you've been able to vanquish and overwhelm, you know, your enemies,
whoever they may be. A lot of the time, what happens in that
situation is that people don't think straight, they lose their
equilibrium. So Allah subhanaw taala is saying, make sure that
you have taqwa, make sure you have consciousness, because God is
watching you have to be just, you can't be unjust about these
things.
A lot of the time, what happens is that somebody's bothering you. And
then suddenly the the tables turn, and something happens and they're
struck with some kind of calamity. And then you feel you gloat about
and you feel like, yes, it's because you did this to me. That's
why God knows maybe that is the case. But then it leads to us
aggressing even further, sometimes what happens is that if there's
somebody oppressing us, and we don't have any support, and then
suddenly, mashallah, we get some support from somewhere, what
happens is that we end up then oppressing them even further,
right, we oppressing them much worse than because we feel it's
justified. I've heard so many people say no is justified, they
deserve it. Well, they deserve a certain amount, no doubt, right.
And you are allowed to, you know, get a vent yourself to a certain
degree, but then you can't go overboard, there is no
justification for that. And that's where it gets very, very
complicated as to how much you are actually able to do in response.
Because a lot of things are very abstract. You know, you can't
really measure or quantify these things. So that's why it gets very
difficult. That's why we need to err on the side of caution. So
while we are allowed to give back as much as you get, but you go
anywhere beyond that, and then that becomes a burden upon us in
front of Allah subhanaw taala then we become the oppressor and when
you become the oppressor, when anybody becomes the oppressor,
they lose the help of Allah subhanaw taala you gain a remember
this that you gain Allah subhanaw taala side and his assistance with
you, as long as you are not the oppressor, but you are the
oppressed one, right it definitely that within my bloom for in who
lays Sabina Holbein Allah hijab as the Hadith mentions, which means
which means that Be careful of the prayer of the oppressed, one,
be careful of the prayer of the oppressed one, because there's no
barrier and veil between it and Allah subhanaw taala. So, Allah is
with those whose hearts are broken, Allah with those who are
downtrodden. And just as a side point here, there's a lot of
people saying that I've been downtrodden for most of my life,
you know, I've been always overwhelmed and overcome. So a lot
of people think that if this promise that you will be assisted
by Allah subhanaw taala and Allah subhanaw taala is with the ones
who are oppressed, then how come I'm not being assisted and, and
helped even though for the last 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, you
know, my family has been oppressing me. Now, there could be
many, many reasons for that. Allah subhanaw taala doesn't say that
don't
do anything and just exercise what you might call a patient's have
just some kind of passive patients where you don't do anything.
Right. doulas are there to assist you. But Allah subhanaw taala
wants us also to take measure. And that's what's being mentioned in
this verse Warabi. To take your protection, you need to
strategize. You need to do what you can do. I mean, obviously, the
point here is, what are we to? The point that's mentioned here? Is
that protect your borders, because the attack hasn't happened yet.
Right? They're not in your territory already. Because if
you're in your territory already, then the command would be to
actually get them out to assist them, get them out, like the
Ukrainians, for example, had to do, right. When you're when
somebody attacks you then and they've taken, you know, they
encroached into your area already, then of course, then you're
allowed to fight back. And this is, you know, what the world will
will tell you, but hear what's going on is that they're not
they've not attacked you yet. But there's an imminent possibility,
right, there's an imminent to that there's a possibility to secure
yourself, secure yourself. So a lot of the time, what really
happens, and what the real issue is, is that a person doesn't
strategize properly. A lot of times people are told in a wrong
way, just do some work, just be patient, don't take any steps
whatsoever, you do have to take steps. And that's important.
Taking steps is part of human you know, because at the end of the
day, Allah subhanaw, Taala has given us the ability to
strategize, put up our defenses, you know, decide what's the best
way for us, and not to just be beaten up all the time, and not to
be abused all the time, not to be oppressed all the time. So when it
needs to be calculating in this regard, a lot of time people will
not take advice from others, right? They all the people they
take advice on doesn't give them proper advice. And then after
that, what happens is that after 20 years, it's going to lead to a
spiritual crisis. Right? So somebody's going to say that I've
been making dua for 20 years, but nothing has happened. Well, Allah
tells you to make dua, he also tells you to act and to
strategize, and to do that, which is correct. And you've not done
that. Right. You may say, Well, I don't know how to do it. Well, you
should have asked people, you should go to people to find out
the best strategy that you can use. Because if Subhanallah, if
the people that are trying to assist you, or you think they're
assisting you sometimes they won't be assisting you, we had a case of
a woman who is about nearly 40 years of age. And finally she's
out of a particular marriage that she was forced into and
blackmailed into in the beginning, from her parents ourselves. And
when it was going wrong completely, whenever she would go
to her mother, her mother kept telling her that have have a
child. And once you have a child, your husband will be fine. You
know, he'll assume responsibility. Well, maybe, maybe, but it didn't
work. It didn't work. The guy, they just couldn't see it, she
could see it, but the mother couldn't see it. And she just kept
thinking maybe that was her experience during her marriage
that when the you know, when she had a child and the father became
more responsible. So she was trying to give that advice. But
that advice doesn't necessarily work for everyone. So she had one
child, then her mother is telling us have some more children. So
she's on a second child and a third child, and there is
absolutely no difference in her burden is growing, and she has to
earn the living, he doesn't want to do anything. He doesn't want to
even earn the wage in the house. He doesn't want to bring the food
to the table. Right? He is just basically like a sloth not doing
anything.
Finally, she got out of that marriage. And now she is much
happier. But she feels that so much has been lost. And that's
because of bad advice and not the right kind of support. Not the
right kind of support. You know, marriages are for endurance, right
marriages, you do need patience in marriage. But there's also a limit
after which it becomes a mental breakdown. And that's not what
Allah subhanaw taala wants us to do. Right? He wants us to do
Rebelde that you prepare yourself as well that you defend yourself,
at least you defend your interests, they're very, very
important. So this can be taken on a macro level and also on a micro
level. The other thing is that when Allah subhanaw taala talks
about here, there's two words here, you have Latina, ominous,
Biru wasabi Ru is Biru and sabe. Ru. So they both from the same
obviously route of perseverance and patience and so on. But a lot
of the time, the the common kind of understanding of patient has
been a very narrow, restricted sense that they have, which is
that you need to just put up and this is you know, in order to do
it's in English as well to a certain degree and other
languages. You know, the concept of sub of the Islamic concept one
is patience, right. That's just means patience in the face of
calamity. But then there's a concept of suburb and I don't
think people have understood the kind of rich dimension of
patience, that the Islamic vision of patience, the Quranic worldview
of patients, generally, it's in a very restricted sense, it's taken
to mean just put up with a calamity, or an injustice, or some
kind of pain or suffering without complaints.
That's what patience means for a lot of people. However, in the
original Arabic the word Sobor carries a much more wider range of
meaning, right?
It is it incorporates constancy, to do something in a consistent
way to be constant in doing something, right? To be constantly
doing so to be regular in doing something. This works with
worship, right? This relates to worship, you do worship in a
consistent way. Right? As we're encouraged that.
Do actions, you know, even if they're little, but do the regular
actions because that shows consistency and constancy, then
you have to be consistent in doing something you don't do too much
one day, and after the next day, you can't do anything, right. So
you were supposed to be very consistent in what you do. Another
meaning has that its unwavering resolve. So you carry on going
until you get your goal, you have an objective in mind, a pious and
a righteous objective. And then you take all the burdens on you
deal with the obstacles in your path. You know, you basically
jumped through the hoops that you have to, in order to get to where
you need to get to, right, you want to get to Paradise, there's
going to be a lot of difficulties and spots. You want to establish a
masjid. You want to become a scholar, you want to learn more
about your faith, you want to become more practicing, you want
to just start wearing hijab, you want to start praying five times a
day, you want to start becoming more regular in or you want to
abandon certain sins. There's difficulty in all of these paths.
They're not easy to do. Right? You might look at certain people who
pray five times in a masjid, cover up niqab everything and think it's
easy for them. It's not necessarily always easy for them.
Yes, Allah subhanaw taala does eventually make it make it easy.
And I will say that once you do get used to it, the difficulties,
they disappear. And the reason they disappear is because you can
come used to dealing with it, you become used to those kinds of
challenges don't bother you anymore. You can surmount these
challenges and you can get beyond them. It's all summer. All of that
is our constancy, deliberation, regularity, unwavering resolve,
and even taking an uncompromising stand for your principles that's
also sober, as long as your principles are right. And
subhanAllah look at Hussein or the Allahu Anhu. He had a principle
even though he was advised not to go and attack and not to go and do
or not not to actually go out Hussein or the Allahu Anhu was
advised not to go out right against yours either. And that
whole discussion that took place there, there were other Cybil told
him not to go, but he was a man of his principle and he decided that
that is what he was going to do and he was going to do it for the
right thing. So many we have so many cases like that, where people
have taken a result. For example, you know, humble Rahima hula, he
takes he took a firm resolve not to not give in to a mamoun Rashid
and moto symbolises Inquisition, and change the doctrine about the
about the Quran that they were being persecuted for, and
eventually hamdulillah Allah subhanaw taala gave him victory.
So it's to be a first this is all to do with somebody in the Quran.
Sobor has the greatest form of reward. So, Allah subhanaw taala
tells us to do all of these things. Because what that does is
when the second thing is don't just be resolved yourself, but
encourage one another to do the same thing. So families need to
encourage one another. Spouses need to encourage one another.
They need to encourage the children children need to
encourage the parents whenever there's a difficulty if there's a
sickness for example, saw a bureau that's actually the Quranic
injection to to assist one another's one another. And then
after that, he says, What are we doing again, take your measures
properly. So defend your your property, defend your boundaries,
defend your land, defend your interests, defend your sanity, all
of this thing will inshallah come in through rebirth, but above all
then and have Taqwa. Right. And you see right now they're
uncovering a number of war crimes they're saying is war crimes. And
a lot of the time in World War like situations, both sides they
end up creating or committing war crimes. I mean, it happened in it.
I mean, it pretty much every war. That's what happens, right?
Especially of nowadays, that's what you see. And the reason for
that is, when you get the upper hand, as I explained earlier, then
you want to just go in with impunity, and you justify it. So
people start creating that were told we're not allowed to do that.
The Muslim forces are told you are not allowed to do that. Muslim
people are told you're not allowed to do that. Right? You have to
uphold Allah subhanaw taala has consciousness all the time, and
that's very important for you. So don't go overboard. Don't go
overboard. Make sure that you stick to your principles and get
guidance. If you have to.
Be consistent in your faith, please place your trust in Allah
subhanho wa Taala because Allah subhanaw taala is all powerful and
Subhan Allah
Allah subhanaw taala give courage to the people in the world, like
in Palestine, in the Indian subcontinent, and in many other
places where they're going through a lot of turmoil and difficulty,
right Allah subhanaw taala give them the ability to support
themselves and to encourage one another to patients. And may Allah
subhanaw taala grant them duck one may Allah above all grant them
success, but to everybody else, every other individual in the
world that is facing a hardship, a calamity, and who has to go
through patience patience is an everyday occurrence. May Allah
subhanaw taala grant us the ability to be regular, to be
constant to be consistent to be resolved. And to do that, which is
right all the time. Allah subhanaw taala bless us and this month of
Ramadan and accept our donors and take us out of this Ramadan much
better than when we entered it and keep us close to him. Welcome to
our annual hamdulillahi rabbil Alameen Assalamu alaykum
Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.
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