Bilal Assad – Gratitude and Blessings – A Transformative Talk – London Excel
AI: Summary ©
The importance of gratitude and the rewarding experience comes from the importance of knowing and giving to Him, as well as the need to count on Him. The struggles of people with illness and negative emotions can lead to negative consequences, but positive blessings like knowing and giving to Him can help. The success of Islam is seen in the struggles of individuals experiencing hardship and negative emotions, but individuals can overcome these struggles and achieve success. The importance of maintaining family ties and avoiding harm in the face of injuries is emphasized, along with the success of Islam and its rewards.
AI: Summary ©
السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته بسم الله الرحمن
الرحيم الحمد لله والصلاة والسلام على رسول الله
My brothers and sisters, my final talk in
this whole tour tonight is about gratitude and
thanking Allah and how how to sustain the
blessings which He has given us how to
live a life of inner peace and tranquility
regardless of the pain and struggles that we
go through So first let us reintroduce ourselves
to one of the most beautiful names of
Allah سبحانه وتعالى The name الشكور The name
الشكور means the one who rewards or compensates
a small and tiny act multiples and multiples
over beyond what it deserves الشكور is the
one who gives you the resources the ability
and the means to thank Him and to
be grateful and then for doing that He
rewards you and compensates you in multiple ways
الشكور He is grateful to you even though
He gave you and me all the means
to be grateful to Him without it we
can't even be grateful and we cannot count
the blessings and favours that Allah has bestowed
upon each and every one of us Muslim
and non-Muslim man or woman young or
old but the problem my dear brothers and
sisters is that when we have a lot
of blessings abundance of blessings around us those
that we can see and those that are
hidden manifested and hidden we tend to take
them for granted we forget all the blessings
that we have so Allah tells us to
read the Quran every day so that we
are reminded again and again and so that
we can walk on earth proud, happy and
look at big problems small for every mountain
is made out of pebbles Allah wants us
to see it as little pebbles not as
mountains but we have to stay close to
Him subhanahu wa ta'ala we have to
talk to Allah we have to read His
Quran, we have to pray to Allah we
have to be close to Him and remember
how much favour He has upon us Allah
says in the Quran Allah is the One
who created the heavens and the earth and
sent down water from the sky and brought
forth fruits and brought forth fruits as provision
for you and subjected to you the ship
so that it may sail in the sea
so that it may sail in the sea
and subjected to you the rivers and subjected
to you the sun and the moon and
subjected to you the night and the day
and subjected to you the night and the
day and gave you of all that you
asked and if you count the favour of
Allah and if you count the favour of
Allah you cannot count it surely man is
unjust and disbeliever Allah says in surah 14
verse 32 it is Allah who created the
heavens and the earth who sent down water
from the heavens and thereby brought forth a
variety of fruits as your sustenance who subjected
for you the ships that may sail in
the sea by His command who subjected for
you the rivers who subjected for you the
sun and subjected for you the moon and
both of them are constant on their courses
who subjected for you the night and the
day and who gave you all that you
asked for him for were you to count
the favours of Allah you shall never be
able to encompass them verily Allah is highly
verily man is highly unjust exceedingly ungrateful my
brothers and sisters Allah also says Allah has
given you that which is in the heavens
and that which is in the earth and
has bestowed upon you His favours and has
bestowed upon you His favours outwardly and inwardly
and among the people there are those who
dispute about Allah without knowledge nor guidance nor
guidance nor light nor light Have you not
seen that Allah has subjected to your services
all that is in the heavens and on
the earth and has abundantly bestowed upon you
all His bounties both visible and invisible yet
some persons dispute regarding Allah without having any
knowledge or guidance or any illuminating book my
brothers and sisters what would you do, what
would you give if suddenly you cannot breathe
anymore what would you give if suddenly you
saw your child God forbid choking for about
30 seconds or even 5 seconds what would
you give in order for your child to
breathe what would you give for a drink
of water if it was denied from you
what would you give if the food and
drink stayed in your body and wouldn't come
out what would you give if suddenly you
lost half of your sight or all of
it when we were during COVID a lot
of us lost, those of us who got
sick and I'm one of them I lost
my sense of smell and I couldn't differentiate
between scents I have a friend who was
born unable to smell unable to smell and
you know when he discovered that he cannot
smell, that there's this sense called smelling he
discovered it when he was past the age
of 20 you know why he's never experienced
that blessing and so he never thought about
it but you know what, he was always
happy but when I told him about the
sense of smell wallahi he thought that you
and I, we're like superman, we've got this
amazing power he said can you tell that
there's a fire burning in another building, I
said yes, he said how I said by
smelling, he said that's amazing I was in
I was in Frankfurt Germany a few days
ago and they have this activity where you
go and you go inside and you get
to experience the life of a blind person
completely pitch dark and you go with a
group, a team and you've got to walk
around and it's as if you're outside, you
go through streets you go into a room
a house, you're crossing the road, you're going
into a shopping centre, just like a normal
life, we experienced how a blind person lives
their life and how you have to rely
on your senses of hearing smelling, touching subhanallah
and the man that was guiding us he
was blind from birth he says I've only
got 4% vision and he never knew
that people could see 100% and I
asked him like when did you, did you
ever question your sight, he said never I
said why, he says I never thought about
it I thought everybody sees the same way
I see, like blurry vision until he discovered,
but Allah assisted him and enhanced his other
blessings, his hearing his memory, Allah never leaves
you alone without giving you something else but
here's the problem my dear brothers and sisters,
when we talk about blessings, unfortunately the majority
of people in the world think when you
say blessing, they think money money, if you've
got a lot of money Allah has blessed
you, if you don't have much money, you're
not blessed but if you think deeper, blessings
are millions some people are blessed with looks
other people are blessed with amazing character, some
people are blessed with love, some people are
blessed with skills which no one else has,
some people are blessed with family, others are
blessed with relationships, some are blessed with a
good job, some people are blessed with an
ability to speak some people are blessed with
their hearing some people are blessed with their
writing, some people are blessed with being liked
by others and people thinking of them well
with a good reputation some people are blessed
by being happy even if they live a
simple life, blessings my dear brothers and sisters
are uncountable but we think blessing is one
type my brothers and sisters a question are
increased blessings for a person a sign that
Allah is pleased with you and loves you
and if the blessings are decreased is it
a sign that Allah is punishing me or
is displeased with me if I go through
some kind of suffering, a loss does it
mean that Allah is displeased with me, is
it a punishment and if I have more,
does that mean Allah loves that person more
the answer is neither neither Allah says in
the Quran in Surah Al-Fajr Allah
says in the Quran as for man when
his lord tests him by exalting him and
bestowing his bounties upon him, gives him more
blessings he says my lord has exalted me
you know when you see someone who's got
a nice car, who's going well they've got
a nice home, their job is going well,
whatever, we say Allah must love that person
Allah loves you because you're doing well in
your business.
Allah loves you because you're doing well on
social media.
Allah loves you That's how we think right?
Then Allah says the person says my lord
has exalted me, but when he tests him
by Straightening his sustenance meaning taking away from
it.
He says my lord has humiliated me What
did I ever do?
What did I do to deserve this?
I This and I hate that well, I
get these questions all the time say why
is God doing this to me subhanallah?
That's because we fail to realize how many
blessings we do have every single day How
do you know how many times you and
I could have been run over?
Tragic accidents could have happened every single second.
We are prone to danger, but Allah protects
us But only when something sometimes is taken
away from us temporarily all * breaks loose
What happened what happened to understanding where we
are in this life and where we're going
this life is a test my dear brother
Sisters, and you don't get weaker you get
stronger, but it depends how you react to
it Allah then says He says my lord
has humiliated me, but when he tests him
by taking away some of his sustenance He
says my lord has humiliated me Allah says
no, but neither gala Allah does not give
you more because he loves you more and
he doesn't take away from you because he
hates you for Allah subhanahu Wa'ta'ala took
away from prophet ayyub alayhis salaam He took
away his wealth his children 14 children he
took away from him even his health his
skin dropped off his body alayhis salatu wassalaam
for seven or eight years Does Allah dislike
ayyub alayhis salaam?
Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala gave Qarun one of
the biggest enemies of Allah Abundance of wealth
until people used to say we wish that
we could have what Qarun has But because
he was boastful with his wealth Allah says
we made him and his wealth become swallowed
by the earth No Have seeing someone in
your eyes as if they're successful does not
mean Allah has favored them and seeing someone
is not doing so good Does not mean
that Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala is displeased with
them.
Let's answer the question How do we know
if Allah is punishing me or he's pleased
with me Let me tell you brothers and
sisters a lot of people don't know this
in this world right now There is no
real punishment Punishment is not now What there
is is that that there are some sufferings
that happen and Then we can call them
punishment But it's not the punishment which Allah
talks about when he says the day of
accountability Is coming and those who deserve will
be rewarded those who don't deserve it will
be punished no But what we do go
through in this life are some sometimes sufferings
Why do we go through them in order
for either as a wake-up call?
Perhaps we're going astray and Allah knows that
if you died at any moment your hereafter
is not going to be that good so
he knows that by taking something away from
that person that person will straighten up and
By tech or by taking away something from
that person that person will actually experience Blessings
through the suffering that he else he has
never experienced before Perhaps someone has become so
self-centered and narcissistic that their family is
falling apart So Allah takes something away from
them and through that suffering that person changes
Some people go through a sickness and they
realize about themselves a blessing They haven't ever
felt before a feeling of peace and love
you know today We were picked up in
an uber by a brother who recognized me
may Allah reward him and bless him and
his family He looked so young.
I said you're about what 26 27.
He said I'm 52 Said what do you
do to have such a youthful face mashallah?
And he had such peace and tranquility on
his heart in his face subhanallah.
He says I've got four daughters I've got
a beautiful wife mashallah wallahi.
She is my support.
She is my prime minister Somalian brother my
prime minister my money that I earn she
does anything We are one said mashallah Allah
also gave you a wife that he's loving
to you and supportive because I say alhamdulillah
So what's the secret habibi?
What's the secret for looking so young and
having such a pleasant life don't you go
through any hardship because all I go through
a Lot of hardship went through a lot
of traumas in Somalia And I go through
ups and down once had four jobs working
night and day sometimes.
I didn't see my family says but Allah
has granted me peace in my heart.
I Prayed to her should night prayer late
praise in the night.
He goes.
That's my best most beautiful time I never
leave my Salah.
I give Sadaqah Alhamdulillah, I do my zikr
Alhamdulillah to Allah.
I always say alhamdulillah for even the smallest
thing Allah gives me if he gives me
more I say more alhamdulillah And he looks
at this life as a temporary time that
we're going through and that we're only here
to be tested That's the mindset when you
look at something when you change the way
that you look at something the thing that
you're looking at changes When do you know
that Allah is punishing you or you know,
it looks like it's punishing you or not
Here's the answer I Want you to look
at receiving and losing blessings as a test
that comes with a thermometer test thermometer if
The blessing causes you to get closer to
Allah and you use it in the right
way Then it is a sign that Allah
loves you and is pleased with you But
if the blessing that you have received causes
you to move away from Allah Then it
is a sign of Allah being displeased with
you and a warning Same if he takes
away something from you and you react By
doing rebellious actions and not being patient Then
you turn that suffering into more of a
suffering on yourself and Possibly even it becomes
your punishment in this life But if you
persevere through it and it's only temporary and
Allah promises you in the Quran in the
model I see you saw with every piece
of hardship.
There is abundant ease.
He repeats it again.
Subhana Inna ma'al usri yusra if you
didn't get it the first time with every
piece of hardship We go through there is
abundant ease that comes out of it.
It is a blessing in disguise But people
just don't look at it the right way.
They look at it from a narrow materialistic
perspective So it is up to you and
I What becomes of it and sometimes Allah
This hadith is authentic Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala
Sometimes may look at you That you have
been written in his preserved tablet lauhul mahfuz
that you will receive a Particular high level
in paradise inshallah, but unfortunately so far in
your life Maybe Allah has seen That you
your actions the way you're going right now
if you were to die at any moment,
you will not Rightfully Deserve that high place
But because Allah may know something about you
in your heart or about your past or
about your upbringing Whatever it was that was
in your life.
Maybe you're a disadvantaged person for whatever reason
Could be could be an upbringing that was
traumatic and hard for you Could be war
could be bullying could be anything could be
mental illness, whatever it is Allah may know
something about you that is unfair to let
you go like that and lose out on
your level So what does he do subhana?
He sees that your actions and good deeds
are not enough So he does something that
he knows you can Get through it and
be patient enough and come out the other
side successful He takes away something from you
or puts you through a type of hardship
It'll only be temporary But when you pass
it Your sins are forgiven and your rank
is raised You are promoted and so when
you die you reach that high level By
being patient with your hardships my brothers and
sisters how do we sustain our blessings and
Increase our blessings there is a way number
one Showing proper gratitude If you show proper
gratitude for your blessings your blessings become full
of Baraka Whatever those blessings are whether it's
money food house health anything children family Allah
puts Baraka in it What is Baraka Baraka
means its value increases and no matter if
it's a lot or a little bit You
find that it's sustainable It never runs out
Number two Your blessings are increased or sustained
by minimizing Frequency of sins we all sin
we all sin couldn't look me out of
a hot dog all the children of Adam
sin Well, I don't have time at the
war born the prophet peace be upon him
said the best among those who sin are
the ones Who constantly repent but frequency of
sins affects our blessings?
Because the reason Allah forbids certain things upon
us is because they are detrimental to us
in this world and in the next they're
not Good for you For example alcohol.
Let's just use a very common example that
everybody is familiar with among the five highest
causes studies have shown of Domestic violence in
the world is alcoholism and what does Allah
said he said in alcohol and gambling there
is some benefit But their harm outweighs their
benefit among the harm is a dysfunctional violent
family So Allah forbid what is bad for
you, and that will decrease your blessings And
you count all the other sins the less
we have sinned and Allah says Kulia a
body and Latina astraful ala and pussy him
say Oh Muhammad Sallallahu Salaam to to my
dear servants a bad D is a Possessive
noun Allah calls you his beloved or his
dear or his valuable a bad Worshippers the
ones who have overwhelmed themselves with sin and
mistakes Subhanallah we sin over sin over sin
yet Allah still calls you my dear valuable
worshipers It's like a mom or dad who
loves you And they would spill their heart
out for you and give you all their
organs for you to survive At the expense
of their own life, and when they see
you going in the wrong way They try
every means, but they'll still say my son
my daughter.
I Love you.
I don't want to see you hurt Allah
tells us.
Oh my dear servants who have overwhelmed yourself
with sins Especially those who have regretted and
they feel there's no way out La taqnata
min rahmatillah Do not give up don't despair
from Allah's mercy in Allah Allah forgives all
sins Just turn back Turn back you can
always turn back number three is Istighfar Among
the greatest sustainers of blessings is constantly saying
a stuff for Allah Allah says it in
surat nooh Faqul to stuff it all up
become in the who can offer I said
to my people know how they sent it
to people seek Allah's forgiveness He is opt
for giving his forgiveness never runs out you're
serious I'm a I like a madara the
sky will shower upon you blessings, and he
will give you wealth and children and He
will give you gardens and rivers Number four
the hajj would night prayer and do ha
it is the time that is intimate between
you and Allah and Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala
blesses your wealth and your life through night
prayer and do ha Have you ever felt
that I?
remember the days When we had that most
beautiful iman feeling do you remember those days?
You might have been astray and in one
day you repented and you became good Maybe
you were not Muslim, and you embraced Islam.
Do you remember that day?
How the iman was so beautiful?
You ever go through it When was the
last time that you and I went through
do you remember the last time you prayed
in the night?
And you felt that true love and connection
with Allah Something amazing it's out of this
world How much we yearn for it night
prayer number five humbleness No matter what you
have don't boast Don't feel you're more superior
than others remind yourself the worst of people
had more than you but Allah destroyed them
like Firaon and The last pound dollar does
not favor a person upon what you have
or don't have number six charity and Sadaka
Giving charity increases your wealth and your sustenance
Rasul sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said maa naqsa
maalum min sadaka No wealth has ever decreased
Because you gave in charity in fact giving
in charity changes your mindset and channels your
Mindset towards something called the abundance mindset Because
when you give away from that which you
cling on and you rely on that it's
gonna make you survive and then you let
Go of that clinginess to that thing to
that paper money or that gold whatever it
is you free yourself and When you free
yourself you become the controller of the money
the money does not come to control of
you and a Muslim relies on Allah subhanahu
wa'ta'ala that he is a razzak When
you donate fee Sabiha your mind changes I
met billionaires overseas and millionaires Muslims and non
-muslims even the non-muslims wallahi They would
say there's something about giving in charity that
we do that helps us increase our money
There's a secret in Sadaka Number seven if
you want to increase your sustenance, this is
a difficult one for a lot of people,
but it's doable family ties family ties To
try your best Make effort and patience in
maintaining family ties Your parents are your family
ties your children your siblings Your brothers your
uncles and aunts your immediate relatives your grandparents.
They are family ties You may not get
along with all of them in the same
way But you can maintain different levels of
Closeness with each and every one of them
let them do what they want Avoid their
harm if they're harming you but try to
enter from a different angle for the sake
of Allah doing goodness The most happiest person
in the world is the one who does
all their good deeds only for the sake
of Allah Because you will never be disappointed
Because if you rely on people doing treating
you the same way you treat them you
will always be miserable Nobody can repay you
what you really want except Allah and Allah
reminds us in the Quran وما تقدموا لأنفسكم
من خير تجدوه عند الله Whatever goodness you
put forth for yourselves, you will find it
with Allah هو خيرا وأعظم أجرا Allah is
the best to do things for him, and
he has the most enormous rewards for you
So always remember at least I did it
for Allah.
I haven't lost anything they have Because Rasool
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said whoever would like
his provision to be increased and his lifespan
to be extended Let him uphold the ties
of kinship Sahih Bukhari You might say but
didn't Allah write how long you're going to
live and what your rizq is going to
be yes That was in the womb There
is an angel Who is entrusted to write
how long you live and what your sustenance
will be in life?
But that's called a secondary qadar the primary
qadar is in a master book with Allah
The master book knows that you are one
day going to connect family ties or make
dua and Allah subhana Wa'ta'ala will change
the qadar that was written in the womb
and the qadar that is in the heavens
takes place Did you know that two qadars?
So continue with that Because when our parents
Get older And when they pass away We
start to remember what we loved about him
we start to miss their voices And when
Allah blesses us with parents and grandparents you
should be the happiest person in the world
When Allah blesses you with children, it is
the great one of the greatest blessings in
the world If Allah were to take your
child away wouldn't you give every organ in
your body To just have one day with
them You would give everything away just to
have one minute with them You would give
everything away and I finish with this story
about Harun Rashid The Khalifa he once said
To a Wise scholar of his as He
was being served water Harun Rashid the Amir.
He was served water and this story came
to me when when I was hospitalized for
Covid Couldn't breathe thought I'm gonna die.
My parents were in an induced coma I
didn't know if they were gonna live or
not.
You probably have family members may Allah have
mercy upon them and I made a sajda
to Allah and say oh Allah if you
keep my parents alive I thank you for
whatever many years you still want to keep
them with me and if you decide to
take them then I also thank you for
the years that you allowed me to be
with them and I remembered the story of
Harun Rashid where he asked for water from
his servant and a wise scholar named Ibn
As-Sammak Came along and Harun Rashid said
to Ibn Sammak Give me advice.
Give me a reminder So he said to
him Oh Amir Al-Mu'minin what would you
give if you were to be denied Drinking
water if you can't drink water anymore What
would you give so that you can drink
again?
And he said I will give half of
my kingdom Just to drink water again He
said drink Amir Al-Mu'minin, so he drank
when he swallowed the water The scholar said
to him Amir Al-Mu'minin The water is
now inside your body What would you give
if that water could not be digested by
your body could not be Taken into your
body and cannot be flushed out.
You can't urinate What would you give for
it to get out of your body He
said I will give the other half of
my kingdom So then he said Uffin li
malin la yusawi shurbata ma'in wala bawla
Woe to a wealth and a kingdom that
cannot even equal a drink of water and
one urination The blessings that we don't realize
and so Harun Rashid began to cry Let
us now go back home tonight and Re
-evaluate the blessings around us that we have
not yet seen Write them down write as
many blessings as you can because it's easy
to write the things we don't have Appreciate
your parents appreciate your children appreciate your friends
appreciate your health Appreciate your wealth appreciate your
safety and your security where you're living and
say thank you Allah night and day And
practice this last Sunnah tomorrow morning inshallah or
even tonight as the Prophet peace be upon
him used to do Look up at the
sky away from this earth and Just ponder
and say Thank you Allah Subhanaka wabihamdik, you're
perfect and I have nothing to complain about.
Thank you Your life will change Thank you
for listening hadha wa sallallahu anabina muhammad wa
sallamu alaykum wa rahmatullah