Ali Hammuda – Palestine Through Four Filters
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses four filters that can help people accept the Qadr of Islam, including one that causes harm and falls on the other end. They also mention a problem with Muslims who caused harm and are not doing justice. The importance of not judge the justice of Islam on the basis of temporary waves of light is emphasized. The discussion covers the aftermath of the killing of many children and their parents, the loss of their lives, and the loss of their loved ones.
AI: Summary ©
I'm going to offer you four filters to
help you to accept the Qadr of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala, whether it's something you
like or something that really hurts you or
your Muslim neighbors.
Any difficulty that comes your way, if you
pass it through these four filters, by the
time it gets to the other end, what
started off as something quite toxic, something quite
heavy, something dark and painful that was weighing
you down, pass it through filter one and
then the second, third and fourth, and what
you will get on the other side is
contentment with the Qadr of Allah and something
that will elevate you instead of pulling you
down.
Filter number one is to remember that Allah
Almighty is aware.
Filter number two is to remember that Allah
Almighty is just.
Filter number three is to know that Allah
Almighty is wise.
Filter number four is to know that Allah
Almighty can do whatever He wants in His
Kingdom.
Shall I give you a demonstration of how
these four filters work?
Let's take a problem that we are all
struggling with.
The genocide in Gaza, specifically the global abandonment
of those Muslims and specifically the killing of
children that has reached horrific levels.
Run out of words really.
Recently somebody messaged me online and said that
I, alhamdulillah, have reverted to the religion of
Islam a few months ago by way of
a video that he posted thanking the doctors
and the journalists, the people of Gaza.
And I thank Allah Almighty that He has
given me Islam through those righteous people.
But this person said nevertheless, it is so
much content and it is so graphic.
The barbarity is so extreme that now I
have taken one or two steps back as
I ask myself, where is this God that
I have submitted?
It seems that they have been abandoned even
by those in the heaven.
So let's take this as a problem that
is challenging us in our iman and pass
it through these filters and see what comes
out the other end.
What was filter number one?
Allah Jalla Jalaluhu is aware.
So for those who go through a hard
time and the first question they find themselves
asking is, can't Allah Almighty see what is
happening?
Have you heard this knee-jerk reaction?
Can't He see?
Can't He hear?
We say no.
Filter number one says and argues that there
is no heaven that obscures another heaven from
the sight of Allah.
There is no planet that obscures another planet
from the vision of Allah.
There is no sound or the complaint of
a believer, the screams of a child that
drowns out the sound of another who is
doing the same.
Allah is aware.
He said, Nothing on the ground, nothing on
the land, is absent from the knowledge of
Allah.
And Allah Almighty, He says for those who
are in doubt, With Him are the keys
to the unseen.
No one has knowledge of those keys but
Him.
And He knows everything on land and in
the sea.
And there is not a leaf of a
tree that falls down from anywhere except that
He has knowledge of it.
And there is no grain somewhere in the
darknesses of the land, Allah says.
Except that it is with Allah Almighty in
a clear record.
So this is filter number one.
It says Allah Almighty is certainly aware.
He can see what is happening.
Filter number two.
We said Allah is just.
When you ask the question, where is the
justice in what is happening?
How is this fair?
Tell me.
We establish a principle.
Allah Almighty is the most just.
He said, Allah does not do injustice, even
the weight of an atom.
Allah Almighty said, Allah does not do injustice
to the people.
Allah Almighty said, Allah does not do injustice
to anyone.
So the issue is that man, he likes
to deflect his problems on Allah Almighty.
Most important thing for most of people is
to just not take responsibility for their actions.
To put the blame on someone else, on
God Almighty, but not on themselves.
So when we do wrong to someone, we
say God decreed it.
And when someone does wrong to us, we
say, why did God decree it?
One way or another, we will find a
way to blame Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
No, Allah Almighty is the most just.
But did the most just ever tell you
and I that this world of ours is
a place of jaza, a place of reward
and comfort and recompense?
No.
In fact, Allah said that this world is
a place of bala, a place of test
and tribulation.
That's what he told us.
Perfect justice is reserved for the day of
judgment.
Did Allah Almighty promise us that the life
of this world will be a place of
perfect justice for us to start now doubting
Allah Almighty?
He never gave us that promise to begin
with.
If Allah had told us that in the
life of this world, there is perfect justice,
I get you.
I know why some of us would doubt
it.
But did Allah ever make that promise?
No.
He has given you and I an irada,
a will to make decisions as we please,
as we choose.
Yes, our will is connected to the will
of Allah Almighty.
We don't escape his knowledge and his power.
But he has given us a will.
You support Philistine with your will.
You pray with your will.
And we disobey Allah with our will.
No one is controlling us like puppets.
So we ask, where is the justice?
Allah has given us a will.
And on yawm al-qiyamah, the day of
judgment, that is when perfect justice will be
dispensed.
That's what he told us.
He said, We will establish the scales of
justice on the day of judgment.
He said that is when no soul will
be done injustice to.
And even if it is something as small
as the weight of a mustard seed, Allah
said, We will bring it on that day.
And sufficient we are as accountants.
Sufficient we are as reckoners.
And there will be accountability for those children
who have died.
Allah said, When the girl who was buried
alive will be asked for what sin was
she killed?
Allah is speaking to that need to know
inside of you, What will happen to all
of those children who are killed apparently in
vain in dunya?
Allah said, So don't judge the justice of
Allah Almighty on the basis of a temporary
world that lasts for 60, 70, 80 years
at a stretch for you and I.
Judge the justice of Allah Almighty where he
told us justice will be.
And that is when eternity begins.
And that is death and beyond.
That is filter number two.
Allah is just.
Filter number three, we said is what?
Allah is wise.
You are insulted.
You are upset.
You're massively offended when someone says you did
something without reason.
You did it for no purpose.
There's no reason why you did that.
I'm just acting in play.
I'm just acting in vain.
Engineers are offended by that.
Politicians are offended by that.
Doctors are offended by that play.
You did that for no reason.
No, I did it with wisdom.
What then of Allah Almighty who calls himself
the most wise.
Had Allah Almighty removed the layers and the
veils that is covering the wisdom behind what
is happening and the tragedy, including the killing
of children.
We were to see the vast network of
wisdom that is happening behind the scenes without
us realizing because all we could see was
limbs and blood.
If we were to see what is happening
in the back end of the machinery, the
indescribable rewards are being given out.
The places in Jannah that are being reserved,
the homes, the palaces that are being furnished,
the sins that are being erased, the comfort
that is being given on Yawm al Qiyamah
for their suffering, the redemption of millions of
people, the fast tracking of the awakening of
the ummah that needed thousands of years prior
to this, the expediting of our leadership to
prepare a center stage.
We would bow our heads in shame before
Allah Almighty forever questioning his wisdom and believe
you mean we would wish that the onslaught
would continue if we were to realize some
of what is happening behind the scenes that
is known to Allah Almighty.
You and I see a pixel.
Allah sees the entire picture.
You and I are watching a scene from
a very long movie.
Allah sees the eternal script happened in eternity
before it and what will happen after it
till eternity.
Allah is wise and Allah Almighty has spoken
about his wisdom when it comes to suffering
children in the Qur'an but we don't
read the Qur'an in this contemplative way
unfortunately so we don't find answers.
The Qur'an has spoken about suffering children.
How does the Qur'an address it?
Take the story of Yusuf alayhi salatu wasalam,
a child when he was thrown into a
well, sold into slavery, separated from his parents.
Imagine what could be worse for a child
than to be sold into slavery and taken
from country to country.
Yet Allah Almighty he said in the same
verse that speaks about this tragedy to this
minor Allah Almighty said thus we established Yusuf
on the land so that we may teach
him from the interpretation of dreams and Allah
has full control of his affairs but most
people they don't know.
In the same ayah that tells us of
the suffering of this child Allah said I
have full control over my universe.
I know what I am doing and the
suffering of that child became the cause of
the redemption and the saving of an entire
Egyptian community a few decades later.
Just as there was a reason then that
we were told by way of revelation why
do we think there is not a reason
now?
This is not the justification of the killing
of children.
This is not the normalizing of the sight
of suffering children.
God forbid.
This is the idea of knowing that there
is a wisdom whether you realize it or
not.
Quran has given us case studies to prove
this point and how many children were killed
at the edge of a knife at the
time of Musa alayhi salam when he was
still breastfeeding?
How many Israelite mothers suffered bereavement at the
very same moment of the joy of conception?
How many?
One of the guards of the pharaoh waiting
outside the house says to check if it's
a boy he comes in and passes the
knife over his sock robe.
How many thousands died at this point?
What does Allah say?
In the beginning of surah al-Qasas speaking
about the killing of these children he tells
us despite the pain and the tragedy there
was some silver lining.
He said in the ayah after it.
Listen because this is us.
He said وَنُرِيدُ أَنَّ مُنَّ عَلَى الَّذِينَ استُبْعَيْتُوا
فِي الْأَرْضِ Allah said that we wanted to
confer our favor upon those who are oppressed
on the land.
وَنَجْعَلَهُمْ أَئِمَّهَا We wanted to make them leaders.
وَنَجْعَلَهُمُ الْوَارِثِينَ And we wanted to make them
the heirs, the inheritors.
وَنُمَكِّنَ لَهُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ We wanted to establish
them on the land.
وَنُرِيَ فِرْعَوْنَ وَهَامَانَ وَجُنُودَهُمَا مِنْهُمْ مَا كَانْ يَحْذَرُونَ
And we wanted the Pharaoh and Haman and
all of their soldiers to see the very
thing that they used to fear.
Is this not a description of us?
From the ashes of all of those children
who were killed, Musa would rise and it
would be the redemption of his entire community.
And I tell you Allah Almighty is forging
leaders for this ummah because he is wise
and he has promised us that from this
tragedy and pain, we will come to see
the wisdom of his decree.
Still to number four, Allah does what he
wants in his universe.
It's good to inquire about wisdom.
It's good to try to find answers that
will settle your heart.
That's fine as long as you acknowledge what
you and I are within this vast domain.
We're just a speck.
Remember, this is the kingdom of Allah.
This is his sky.
This is his terrain.
It's the body that he has loaned us.
This is his air that we are breathing.
And he as the creator has the right
to choose how he manages his universe.
He said, إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَفْعَلُ مَا يُرِيدُ Allah
does what he wills.
كَذَلِكِ اللَّهُ يَخْلُقُ مَا يَشَاءُ Allah creates as
he wills.
إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَفْعَلُ مَا يَشَاءُ Allah does what
he wants.
لَا يُسْأَلُ عَن مَا يَفْعَلُ وَهُمْ يُسْأَلُونَ He
is not to be asked about what he
does.
He is the one who shall ask.
For those who are still not convinced, let
them find a land that does not belong
to Allah.
Let them find a universe that is not
owned by him.
Let them find air that is not controlled
and gifted by him.
And let them do what they need to
do there.
Reality is that every land, every air, every
sky belongs to Allah.
There is no escape in this reality.
And these are four filters.
Pass any difficulty that you go through, through
them.
And you will come out with this نتيجة,
this consequence.
Allah Almighty is most wise.
And he will submit to the قدر of
Allah, his decree.