Abu Taymiyyah – 5 Lessons From The Hardships Of Prophet Ayub (AS) islam
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AI: Transcript ©
My dear respected brothers and sisters, the topic
that we have chosen to speak about today
is 5 benefits that we can extrapolate from
the life of Ayub Alaihi Wasallam.
This great prophet that Allah
mentioned to us in the Quran
who was struck with many hardships, trials and
tribulations,
adversities.
This Aqd,
the servant of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
who was an excellent one as Allah
referred to him as Ni'amal Aqd.
A wonderful individual,
a very patient
prophet of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will persevere.
My brothers and my sisters,
the servant of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
didn't just go through one trial or two
trials or 3.
He went through many.
All of a sudden
after Allah
had blessed him for decades.
Some of the scholars they mentioned 60 years
of his life.
He left a very very luxurious,
poshful,
filled with blessings
of land,
of properties,
gold and silver.
Right? He was extremely wealthy.
He loses all of his wealth
suddenly.
Doesn't stop there.
My brothers and my sisters,
he then loses all of his children.
They all pass away. Allah
decides and decrees
to take them off the face of this
earth.
It didn't stop there.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala decrees
that he is struck with a skin disorder
which caused him so much pain and suffering.
It didn't stop there.
Ayub alaihis salawasam is abandoned.
He's forsaken
because as the scholars mentioned,
the sickness caused the very
unpleasant
staunching smell
to come out of the skin
disorder that he had. They
pushed him out of his own city
and situated him
on the outskirts of where they lived.
Everyone abandoned him. They say except
for maybe 2
of his relatives
that would come and visit him from time
to time.
And of course, he had his wife.
May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala have mercy upon
her.
Extremely extremely patient my brothers and my sisters.
To the point where she ended up selling
her hair
just so
she could make some money
to feed her beloved husband.
She stuck with him in these times of
difficulties.
These times
when things were not going so pleasantly.
This my brothers and my sisters in a
nutshell
are some of the difficulties and hardships
and trials
that Ayyub alayhi salatu was salam went through.
Why does Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mention this
in the Quran? Who is Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala
trying to inspire?
Most of us might say that we
are meant to take lessons from these stories
in the Quran
because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said,
Tell them about the stories in the Quran
so that they may contemplate, so that they
may think,
so that they may ponder.
It wasn't just for
people like us to take inspiration from these
stories my brothers and my sisters.
It was firstly
and foremost
intended for our beloved
prophet Muhammad
who himself was going through
so many trials and so many difficulties and
hardships.
Right?
6
out of the 7 children that our prophet
Muhammad Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam
was blessed with all passed away in his
lifetime.
Right.
As the poet mentions,
All of them passed away, brothers and sisters,
except for Fatima radiAllahu ta'ala and her who
lived on for another 6 months
these stories and these incidents to our prophet
Muhammad salallahu alayhi wa sallam. So he could
ease his pain.
If you come to me with all of
your problems and you say, you Muhammad,
I'm going through this. I'm going through that.
And then I tell you, brother,
whatever you're going through, I went through multiplied
by 10. It would make you feel better.
Right? I get a lot of brothers always
messaging me saying how they applied
for Medina University and then they got rejected
or the application didn't go through. And they're
feeling absolutely distraught,
broken.
Right?
Hopeless
up until I tell them,
my brother,
the one that you are speaking to myself,
I applied 6 years in a row and
every single time it got rejected.
And then Allah aasawajal
decreed that I go the 7th year.
And that was our time, subhanAllah, that I
didn't even apply for.
Right? He says, I could hope now. I
feel better.
The point is, Allah mentions these stories in
the Quran.
In order to ease the pain of our
beloved Muhammad sallallahu
alaihi wasallam. Went through a lot of hardships
and this Quran is there to ease the
pain that we suffer from.
The hardships that we go through.
The Quran is not just a bedtime story
that we read before we go to sleep
and then that's it.
We go on with our lives that
it is there my brothers and my sisters
to have a positive impact
on every single one of us, my brothers
and my sisters. It is the inspiration. It
is the answer that a lot of us
are in need of.
That we are crying out for. Sometimes we
go to a psychiatrist.
Sometimes we go to some of these individuals
who have expertise in this field because we
are depressed.
As Allah says, no one can give you
information like Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Right? A lot of the answers
that we are looking for my brothers and
my sisters is in the Quran.
This is why now when I give lectures,
which I'm so tired of doing, let me
just take a passage from the Quran. So
we can take inspiration from it and link
it to what we can maybe inshallah
relate to.
So what are these
5 lessons that I want to be in
the next to Allah share with every single
one of you
brothers and sisters.
The first one my brothers and my sisters,
this is a Daawul Iqtirah.
If great people like Ayub alaihis salam,
Musa,
Yaqob,
Yusuf alaihis salat was salam and the rest
of these great individuals went through trials and
tribulations.
And my brothers and my sisters, do you
think
that me and you
won't have to go through difficulties and hardships?
The more
you become closer to your religion,
the more you are bound to be tested.
The messenger Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam told us,
The most severely tested people are the prophets.
Those who came after them or those should
I say who are like them and those
who are like them,
right? When it comes to righteousness of course
we'll never become like the prophets
or even the companions
but we work towards righteousness.
And the more righteous and the more an
individual now draws closer to Allah,
the more my brothers and my sisters is
bound to be tested.
And that's
going to happen as Allah told us in
Suratul Mulk that many of us have memorized.
He who created life and death in order
to test you.
This is an abode of going through tests,
my brothers and my sisters.
Ibnutayni Akhmatullah says,
informing us about some of the wisdoms
and benefits as to why
trials and tribulations
may take place. He says,
If it wasn't for these trials and these
tribulations that we go through, my brothers and
my sisters,
one would be afflicted with the disease of
Arabs. Would you guys agree?
Right.
He's just going through blessings after blessings. He's
got money now
and he's walking on the face of this
earth extremely haughty and arrogant
as if he's on cloud 9
untouchable.
But Allah
causes him to go through these trials and
these tribulations
in order to humble him.
Right?
Otherwise this individual will be struck with self
abasement
or he will begin to embrace
pharaoh type
characteristics
and a hardness of the heart.
And then he says,
And from the mercy of Allah
upon this individual, that at times
he strikes him with these difficulties and these
hardships
in order to bring him back down to
earth.
Right?
It keeps us humble my brothers and my
sisters.
Right?
Also,
something that I want to share with every
one of you guys. My brothers and my
sisters recently.
I was in one of my best friend's
houses.
And let's stop.
And I was sitting in front of his
mother
and you know what she said to me
my brothers and my sisters,
hammed
Today I'm not fasting
and I'm not going to pray. There's a
lady who normally fast.
She prays.
She's on top of her Ibadat.
Right?
So I said to her, why auntie?
She
said, I pray. I do so many acts
of worship
and then Allah azza wa jal is still
making me go through all of these hardships
and difficulties. I'm tired
and because of that I'm not fasting.
I'm angry with Allah assalamu alaikum.
She said this to me. Right?
And then I explained to her,
you went through
so many days or should I say years,
decades
of bliss,
of goodness.
You have such a huge house and you're
complaining.
Right? Shazam mansion that I'm sitting in.
Right? You have all of these blessings and
now you go through some difficulties
and now you're upset or you're under with
Allah
Right? Ayub alaihis salatu wasalam
say 60 years 60 years
he had goodness. He had bliss. He had
luxury.
And then when he was struck with these
difficulties, my brothers and my sisters,
he was someone who was ungrateful.
Right?
He would be someone who
will show his gratitude to Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala. He would continue his worship
to the almighty.
Before I move on to the second point
my brothers and my sisters,
a very important principle that the Messenger Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam taught us was
Look at those who have less than you,
don't look at those who have more.
That will make you so much more thankful
and grateful to Allah
The way we are as human beings we
tend to focus on that which we don't
have.
Forgetting that which others are going through
especially when it comes to marriages. Right?
A brother or the sister might be focusing
on look at how well of a life
that these individuals have.
You only see a moment of their lives
on social media
or what they choose to show you,
and then you begin to compare it to
your miserable marriage. I'll put that in quotation
marks.
Right?
But that's what you thought, not knowing exactly
what is happening behind closed doors.
Right?
You could have been in a very terrible
relationship.
You could have been from those brothers and
sisters
who are now in refugee camps
over there in Syria and Turkey.
Right?
You've got a roof over your head. Say
Alhamdulillah
that you are able to wake up and
not have an empty fridge.
Right?
Be individuals, my brothers and my sisters, who
are grateful for what they have.
This would make an individual so much more
thankful to Allah.
Second benefit my brothers and my sisters
that we want to take away.
I'm running out of time. So I'm going
to mention it very very quickly.
People who actually care about you, they stick
around
at the most difficult of times.
So appreciate them.
Right? This is the kind of wife that
Ayub Alaihi
Salam had.
She could have left him like many gold
diggers do today, right?
As long as everything is going perfectly fine,
they stick around.
The moment something goes wrong,
they jump ship.
Right?
The grass is greener on the other side.
That's what she tells herself. That's what he
tells himself.
The moment she gets sick,
a lot of the time is the woman
that runs away.
Right?
It's the man
Umasha Allah Tabarakallah at the beginning of his
marriage. He had a lot and now he's
struck with some financial difficulties.
She doesn't have the same luxuries as before.
She's ready to jump ship.
Right?
And when you are patient,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will bless you with
what the mind can imagine as we will
come on to inshallah.
So these individuals, my brothers and my sisters,
it could be a
wife,
it could be a friend, it could be
a relative.
Be someone my brothers and my sisters who
doesn't forget the good times.
Allah mentioned this
in the verses pertaining to divorce.
We easily forget the goodness that
we may have experienced with some
of those who were there from day 1.
Right? And all of that good just goes
down the drain.
Forget it.
Allah tells us it's a huge principle when
it comes to marriages.
Don't forget the good times.
Don't forget the good times.
Especially when things now start going wrong with
these people who were there for you once
upon a time.
Number 3, my brothers and my sisters,
all we can take away from the specifies
that
you can lose all of your blessings in
a heartbeat.
This bliss and this goodness now that you
are enjoying
can be taken away from you.
This happened to to prophet Ayuba alaihis salam
who was a righteous prophet my brothers and
my sisters.
And it happened to him. Let alone someone
who disobeys Allah Azzawajal with the blessings that
he has.
I normally tell our brothers and sisters who
are maybe
going through the trial of listening to music.
How
Allah can take away your hearing in a
heartbeat so so quickly as Allah tells us
in the first page or should I say
second page? So to Baqarah.
If Allah
wanted, He would have removed
your ability to hear and your ability to
see.
These are blessings that we take for granted,
that we overlook, that we undermine
because everyone has it. Right?
What if Allah took that away from you
in a heartbeat?
Let me tell you guys about my friend,
right, who Alhamdulillah
now is out of the hospital.
For months, he was in hospital. You know
why my brothers and my sisters?
Or should I talk about how his day
started? I'm sure everyone here has heard of
Stamford Bridge,
Chelsea
Football Stadium.
He was there around maybe
Duhr time
watching the game.
By the evening,
he lost his ability to speak.
He lost his ability to walk.
He found himself in a wheelchair,
not because he was in an accident. No.
Just like that. All of a sudden
Allah took it away from him.
Right? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala took it away
from him. And then we were visiting him
in the hospital
at Peterborough.
From Leicester
to Peterborough. Thus, his friends would commute
every now and again to go and visit
him. Now he's back home. Hamdulillah getting much
better.
But it's a trial that brought him closer
to Allah.
Right?
He's now praying,
taking his religion a lot more seriously.
A trial that brings you closer to Allah
is far better than a blessing or some
money that comes your way that makes you
so distant from Allah.
Number 4 my brothers and my sisters,
whoever is patient Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala will
give him that which the mind can't imagine.
And that's exactly what happened with Ayub Alaihisatul
Salaam.
Right?
Right?
After all of these years, my brothers and
my sisters,
scholars they mentioned 18 years that he went
through these trials and these difficulties and these
hardships.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala not only gave him
back that which he lost,
but rather he gave him more.
Ibn Abbas
Radhiallahu Ta'ala Anhuma
he said that he asked the messenger salallahu
alaihi wa sallam about this verse that I
just quoted.
Responded back by saying,
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
returned back his wife.
She was always there the right Meaning
Allah brought back the prime of her beauty.
Right?
And she became even more beautiful
and she looked even more young.
And she was able to give birth to
26
new children.
So whatever he lost Allah
brought it back.
Right? Some of them were fasted on and
they mentioned that Allah brought them back to
life and even on top of that she
went and gave birth.
Right?
This is what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala can
give you if you are patient.
You are someone who seeks to what Allah
has told him to do.
Doesn't start getting angry at Allah as the
reason the moment things start going wrong.
That's rather he returns back to Allah.
Last but not least my brothers and my
sisters and this is benefit number 5.
When did Ayyub alaihis salat waslam start doing
When he went through these difficulties, he turned
to Allah
and he began to make dua and do
not lose hope in the dua that you
make. When you make
a
dua, call on to Allah and you have
that certainty that Allah will respond.
And he may respond in a manner or
give you something that you are not expecting.
And perhaps he may give you something that
you weren't expecting.
And this is far better than that which
you
are specifically looking for.
Allah
is wise.
Right? Allah
has a divine wisdom
that that sometimes we really struggle to understand
how many a time my brothers and my
sisters have we been in a position where
we thought to ourselves,
if that didn't happen, I wouldn't have this
today.
If that didn't happen, I wouldn't have this
today. But at the beginning, it didn't make
sense.
Right? How many brothers do I know went
through divorces?
And they said SubhanAllah divorce that I went
through was the best thing that ever happened
to me.
Right? Later on it began to make sense
or an abortion
or losing a particular job or going bankrupt
for a time in their life.
Maybe if they had that money they would
have gone and
carried out so many sins
just like their friends. But they were the
black sheep, the odd one out. So they
had to change the strategy of life.
He
called on to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
called on to Allah Azzawajal. He said, du'a
we should memorize especially if you're someone who's
sick or someone who's ill, whether it may
be cancer, whether it may be liver failure
or a kidney failure, should I say. Whatever
sickness it might be, call on to Allah
Azzawajal.
Right?
And sometimes my brothers, when we find ourselves
in this position, right? We go through a
hardship.
No one can help us except Allah.
And this is exactly what Allah wants from
you. That it reaches a point with you
that is just you and him.
Right? Just you and him. You Allah, no
one can help me except you.