Ahmad Saleem – The Human Instinct to Pray in Despair
AI: Summary ©
The transcript describes a conversation between a doctor and a woman who is a Muslim. The woman describes a woman who shows up to a conference and becomes a Muslim, and mentions a potential d-cost. The doctor encourages the woman to donate to her promotion and mentions a potential deduction from her bonus.
AI: Summary ©
So, this lady, we're having a conversation and
talking about God, and she's like, you know,
I'm a doctor, I'm just a total atheist,
I don't believe in any of this.
When the plane started shaking, and like, out
of her instinctive reaction, she grabbed my hand,
she's like, oh my God, oh my God,
oh my God.
And then she let it go, like, when
everything calmed down.
And then she turns, and I turned to
her, I said, I thought there was no
God.
She's like, oh, come on, we all know
that.
It's instinct of human being, we all have
to call to some higher power when we're
in trouble.
And seconds later, she's like, there's no such
thing as God.
I was traveling to Houston from Edmonton, way
back, sometime in late 2000.
So, the lady that sat next to me
in the plane was a doctor.
She was like, I don't know, some kind
of doctor, and she was heading out to
some very important medical conference.
If you've ever taken a flight over the
Colorado mountains, that whole rocky chain, it's very
turbulent, that flight.
Because of the mountains, it's like, very, very
turbulent.
So this lady, we're having a conversation and
talking about God, and she's like, you know,
I'm a doctor, I'm just a total atheist,
I don't believe in any of this.
And literally, when the plane started shaking, and
it's not even like crazy turbulence, it's like,
enough that like, things were moving like that.
And like, out of her instinctive reaction, she
grabbed my hand.
She's like, oh my God, oh my God,
oh my God.
And then she let it go, like when
everything calmed down.
And then she turns, and I turned to
her, I said, I thought there was no
God.
She's like, oh, come on, we all know
that.
It's instinct of human being.
We all have to call to some higher
power when we're in trouble.
And she's like, and seconds later, she's like,
there's no such thing as God.
Right?
This is the same thing that Allah says
in the Quran.
That when they are in the middle of
the sea, they don't find anyone, they ask
Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la in
a way, and they're like, you know, oh
Allah, just rescue us and we will never
forget you.
And then when the ship reaches the shore,
the person becomes as if he had never
called on Allah ever before.
And likewise is the case of the Muslims.
We see this all the time.
Right?
One of the places that I did my
co-op, there was some senior guy, I
don't know who he was.
And we had a Jummah.
So we had like on the floor, we
had Jummah and we'd go and pray Jummah
over there.
And obviously, you know, your regular Jummah crowd,
people who work in the corporate, you know
what I'm talking about?
You know, the regular Jummah crowd, you know
that there are other Muslims, they don't want
to be shown a Muslim.
But then there are people who are going
to come for Jummah, there's like 15, 20
people that come and they'll do a little
Jummah and stuff like that.
And then all of a sudden, this person
shows up to Jummah.
He's on my floor.
He's like a C-level guy.
And I'm like, he's a Muslim?
I'm totally shocked.
Because you cannot tell by any way this
person was a Muslim.
So he showed up to the Jummah, I
still vividly remember.
And you know, the Imam Ibrahim over there
was there, Imam Abdul Hayy Patel, he was
leading the Jummah.
And then afterwards, he saw that, you know,
he's an older gentleman.
So he saw my face and I was
just like in total shock that I worked
with, I'm on the same floor with this
guy.
How is he a Muslim?
Imam Abdul Hayy was like, much more senior,
30 years in that same company.
He's like, he said, actually, you know, the
bonus season is very close by.
So you know, a lot of people remember
Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la in
Jummah during this time.
And also there's going to be a restructure.
So there's a possibility of a very senior
promotion that some people so that so they
all show up for Jummah during that time.
That's when they remember Allah Subh'anaHu Wa
Ta-A'la.
This is not normal.
We do this all the time.
I want to donate something, InshaAllah I'll get
a promotion.
Because we're seeking dunya from the a'mal of
Akhirah.
We're seeking dunya.
We have enough yaqeen that if I give
for Allah thousand today, Allah will InshaAllah turn
this for my promotion InshaAllah or for my
bonus or for my better appraisal.
We do this all the time, right?
As people working in the corporate field.
May Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la
grant us hidayah and not use the deen.