Fatima Barkatulla – New Muslim Challenges – How do I face them?
AI: Summary ©
The importance of learning to accept Islam and finding one's worth through tests and personal growth is emphasized. Personal growth and finding one's worth through personal growth are also emphasized. guarding one's body, personal growth, and privacy are also emphasized. It is important to avoid harming one's health and socializing negative comments, and individuals should pray for Islam. It is also emphasized that protecting one's privacy and confidence in actions is crucial for achieving healthy behavior.
AI: Summary ©
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Well, I shall do hola ilaha illallah wa la sharika lah shadow Anna Mohammed Abu who was
my dear Sisters in Islam Assalamu alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatu.
Indeed all praises due to Allah, we praise Him, we seek His guidance, we seek His help and we seek his forgiveness. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can miss guide and whomsoever Allah leaves a straight and and can guide, I bear witness that there is nothing worthy of worship except Allah alone without any partners. And I bear witness that Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was His servant and Messenger.
Just gonna love him for welcoming me to Ireland. This is the first time I've ever set foot in Ireland, and I'm really
impressed by the sisterhood and also by the,
by the warmth of the Welcome, everyone has given me just like Kamala heron. So today, we're going to be looking at the topic of
how do we keep that spark of a human alive in our hearts.
Perhaps many of you have taken your shahada, you came to Islam, you embrace Islam, or you've, you're newly practicing, you just started to commit to Islam. So you were born into a Muslim family, but you you've committed to, to practicing Islam and to obeying Allah subhana diamond. And suddenly, all sorts of difficulties, all sorts of obstacles have started to appear. And so you're, you're asking yourself, Wait a minute,
I thought life was supposed to be better now that I'm a Muslim, or that I've started practicing Islam, I thought that the difficulties would dissipate. And I would just have this wonderful peace of mind and this glowing happiness about me.
And so perhaps you're asking one of the following three questions. Number one, why am I facing these difficulties? Why am I facing these tests? Number two, why am I finding it so difficult to stay away from temptation? And to obey Allah? Why am I finding it so difficult?
And number three,
why is it so hard to be a religious person in our times, to be a Muslim? It's just too hard. And I really feel like giving up, perhaps you are in one of these camps, or perhaps you're asking all of these questions.
So in order to for us to really unpick this and really look at this topic properly, and to gain some clarity Sharla The first thing I'd like, all of us to do is to remember the following.
That the Sahaba or the Allahu Anhu. And by the way, sisters, if you're taking photos of me,
please don't put them on Facebook or Twitter or anywhere on the internet. Okay, does that kind of hurt I, I don't mind if you take it just for yourself.
So it was a, the Sahaba or the Allahu Anhu. They also were converts. They were not people, the majority of them that were born into Islam. So when you read about must be normal, right? The sahabi, the great sahabi, who the Sahaba said when they saw him, he was like the kind of, you know, he was the most fashionable man in Mecca. Right? You know, when you hear about designer clothes, and you and you think of celebrities, this was must have been on where he used to wear the latest designer clothes, right? He was known for that. And for coming from a very wealthy family. His mother was very wealthy, and she used to spoil him. And subhanAllah when he became a Muslim.
And in one of the battles when he was martyred. They found him to not even own a shroud. He didn't even own enough material for a shroud to cover him. And they marveled and they looked at him and they said, we used to know him when he was the best dressed man in Makkah.
And what had happened is that when he became a Muslim, his mother had actually reacted in a very negative way. She was very upset. And she had removed all wealth that she was giving to him away from him. She even locked him up. And she was, you know, keeping him in the basement of the house until he escaped.
So this was a convert
from the sahaba. Think about Sumaiya, the first martyr of Assam. She also was somebody who embraced Islam. She was a convent.
What happened to her? She, she used to be like her and her family used to be the favorite family of Abuja, because they used to be slaves of his clan.
So they were freed slaves. And they were had a very good relationship with Abu jehlen his family. But as soon as she became a Muslim, everything changed. Now she was being persecuted and tortured, until she became the first martyr of Islam. So, I really want you to get out of this feeling, my sisters that you are the only one who's going through or who has gone through the difficulties that you might be facing. Remember, the best people, the people who we hold up as role models, they too will convert and they too, went through greater difficulties than we will ever go through. The second thing to remember is that everyone is tested. So you might be seeing a sister who's grown up
a Muslim, she seems to have an easy life, she's married, she's got a house, she's got everything, her family and parents, etc, etc. And you might not have that. But remember that Allah subhanaw taala is testing her as well. She has her own test. Maybe she hasn't told you about those tests. But whether you are a convert or you're a new Muslim, or you're somebody who was born with Islam will return to Islam. Now there's so many terms I don't even know which one to use, convert revert returnee. There's all these terms. You know what I mean? Right? Somebody who's embraced Islam, or somebody who was brought up with Islam, whatever you situation you're in, every human being is
tested. And they're tested according to what is a temptation and a test for them. So it could be different for you, and it can be different for them. So don't think just because you're seeing somebody who looks like they're in, you know, comfort and ease, that they're not having their own private tests.
The third thing to bear in mind is to put this life into context, that this life is a test. This is not the real life. Yes. You know, when you look, when you watch television, when you go out to the shopping malls, you get a feeling that this is it. You get dazzled and impressed by this world. When you read about the celebrities, when you read Hello magazine, and you see those celebrities and you think, wow, I wish I had skin like her. And I wish I looked like her and I wish I could lose weight. So I could just fit into a dress like that, right? When we get distracted by this life, we have to remember and pull ourselves away and say no, this is not the real life. Allah Subhana Allah is
giving some people their luxuries and their ease in this life, because they will not have anything in the next life. And Allah subhanaw taala is saving the reward for the believers in the next life. So think of this life of how many years 50 years, maybe even shorter, you know, if Allah has decreed it, 70 years maximum, write average, on average, think of these short years, as the only time you have to invest in the real life, which is the life to come, compare 70 years, my sisters to forever, because that's what we're talking about here. Right? The hereafter is forever.
It's like the comparison between a grain of sand and the whole of the Sahara desert and more, right Subhanallah this life is nothing. So put that into perspective. And so some of the ways that we can, we can really come to terms with the tests and the difficulties we face and why we are facing these difficulties
is to remember that number one, suffering and difficulty causes us to remember a lot more Allah subhanaw taala may give a person difficulties and suffering in order to bring them closer to him. Like he says in the Quran. For either rocky boo Phil full ki Tao Allah meclizine Allah with Dean for alum, Naja whom in Albery either home usually goon when human beings are riding on a ship, okay and say this ship capsizes they will call on Allah.
You know what, listen, I love to deal with complete sincerity. Even the even Richard Dawkins right? If he was on a ship, if it was on the Titanic, and it was about to sink, I guarantee that he would call on Allah meclizine Allah and Allah knows his servants, so he knows his creation better than you know ourselves for a moment. They would say to Allah, if there's a God,
oh God, if you're out there, save me. I'll change I'll live a different life. And this is what Allah says. They call on Allah. Allahu Deen fella manager. Then when he saves them what happens?
And then they start associating partners with Allah, they start worshiping their desires again, they start being arrogant again, they start worshipping other things and associating partners with him again. So you see, when human beings are put in that difficult situation when we're given suffering definitely makes us closer to him. You know, when we're in times of ease, when our prayers are different, our prayers, when we are in times of difficulty are completely different. The sincerity, the attachment, the sense of helplessness, we feel towards Allah. This is what Allah wants us to feel.
And even even told me I said, the great scholar, Ibn Taymiyyah, Rahim Allah said, a calamity that makes you turn to God is better for you than a blessing, which makes you forget the remembrance of God.
That's really hard for us sometimes to to accept, but like our chef,
Chef Muhammad Akram nadwi, he was saying to us, don't just thank Allah for, for the ease and for the good things he's given you. thank Allah for the things he has not given you as well. And I was thinking, how can you thank Allah for the things he has not given you? Right? And he was saying that even the things that Allah has chosen not to give you there's some wisdom in the in that he knew that if he had given you that thing, it would have caused you some harm caused you some distract, disruption, destruction, or perhaps it would have made you lead you astray. And so even in the things he has not given us there is wisdom.
Remember to sisters, that the soul is purified through these tests, right? The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said by the one in whose hand is my soul, no believer is stricken with fatigue, exhaustion, worry or grief, but that Allah will forgive him, some of his sins thereby even a phone that pricks him. So these tests are a means of purifying us. In fact, on the Day of Judgment, there will be all of us people who will say, I wish I had more difficulty.
I wish I had been given that difficulty even more in this life, because the reality of this life will be with us and the in the hereafter and we'll realize this was just this was just the training ground. This was just the you know, the the place in which to invest in order to reap the real rewards in the next life.
Remember two sisters that Allah is testing us to differentiate between the sincere amongst us and the hypocrites. Allah Subhana Allah says in the Quran has he been so au to Roku a cool Kulu
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hula you've done goon Wallah cada fatten Levine cobbly him Salah ja lemon Allahu Levina sada coup. Follow ya lemon Allahu Levina sodoku Allah Allah Anelka VB and do men think? Do people think that they will be left alone and saying, I believe I'm a Muslim, and that they will not be put to the test? Certainly, we tested those before them. And so that God so that Allah could differentiate those who are true from those who are false. So Allah subhanaw taala is giving us tests to really find out what our worth is, for the hereafter.
Also, sisters, Allah may test us through blessings, it's not just through difficulties that Allah will test us. So perhaps we are living in a situation of ease, and our wealth is our test. How will we spend it? How did we acquire it? Will we live and use that wealth in a halal way? Or will we use it in a haram way? Our health, our good health could be a test for us. That while you're healthy while you're, you've got a beautiful body, a beautiful, you know, situation? Are you gonna use your body and your time and your health and all of these things for the sake of Allah? Or are you going to spend that time in Haram?
Allah may test us through our children, he may test us through our family's will our families and our wonderful children and our husbands and these things. Will they distract us from Allah's path and the things that Allah has commanded us to do? He may test us through our status. Perhaps we have we are from a middle class family. What What kind of family are we what what kind of life do we live? Do we allow this desire for status to distract us from obedience to Allah? He may even be testing us to our nationalities, you know, the fact that we are from Europe.
The fact that we live
In a situation of relative ease, how will we use the voice that Allah has given us? Will we stand up for our brothers and sisters who are in other countries? Will we as mashallah we just heard from the sister spend our lives and our wealth for the sake of Allah for the sake of the betterment of this Omar.
Allah Subhana Allah Allah tells us
what Allah mu anima and we're looking what I will add the conflict now.
What and Allah and the who agilon Avene know that the these worldly possessions and even your own children are just a test for you.
And that with Allah,
we will have our greatest reward.
So how do we deal with these tests? Now we've understood that yes, these tests are a part of life. These tests are an inevitable part of life for the believers, they were a part of the life for, for the Sahaba they are part of life for people who are born Muslim part of life for people who come to Islam.
How do we deal with these tests?
First of all, by realizing that there are things that Allah Subhana Allah has decreed, that are beyond our control and our understanding, and they are for our own good.
So Allah Subhana Allah says in the Quran was
tak Rahu che on Oahu, a pharaoh lecom. What I said, to help boo che, who shall rule like home? Wallah? Who Yeah, Allah,
Allah, Allah moon, that perhaps there is something that you dislike, but it's good for you. And perhaps it's something that you like, that you can't see anything wrong with, and you really, really desire that thing. But it's bad for you. And Allah knows, and you do not know.
So the first way to deal with the test is to realize that, as a Muslim, we believe that Allah Subhana Allah, He is the one who's always so if I want to make sure that these things that I'm facing in life are definitely for my good, the number one thing I need to do is to fix my relationship with Allah, make sure my relationship with Allah is good. So that definitely anything that happens to me in my life is for is for the better.
The second thing is to realize
that if we are patient with these tests, we will get a great reward. And when I say patience, you know, sometimes we have this idea of patients as being a very passive thing, right? So I'm just going to sit and I'm going to, I'm not going to cry, for example, or I'm not going to show any emotion. I'm not going to rant and rave, these things are also can be part of patients. But really, in Islam, when we talk about suburb,
it is a much wider concept. And sober means patience and continuing to do good. Okay? So do you see it's not very, it's not passive, it's an active thing. You actually act, then continue, even though you find it hard, even though you're facing these difficulties, you continue and persevere, patiently persevere upon good and upon obedience to Allah. And patients also means that you continue to persevere patiently in staying away from the haram. Because you see, even staying away from the temptations and the Haram also takes patience, right.
Staying away from for example, in a in a culture that constantly tells us as women to beautify ourselves, to to allow people to judge us by the way we look. It's very tempting, when you look at yourself in the mirror before you go out, to want to, you know, beautify yourself that bit more
to where it's something that you know, is not exactly modest, but
you've fallen for the temptation patients would be that even though you have that fitna, even though you have that whisper, that you fight that and you're patient with being modest, because it does take patience.
So to be patient, Allah subhanaw taala says about this one Annabelle one can be che Minal Hovi will do anyone not to say Meenal I'm worthy will fussy with Mr. Rod why Bashir is saw the and he says that we will surely definitely. And there's a lot of emphasis in this aisle will enable you wanna come we will definitely have assurity indeed, test you.
with fear. You will, you will experience fear. We will experience hunger at some time in our lives. We may experience a loss of wealth or loss of life in our families, or a loss of fruits.
When we think of fruit, you know, sometimes you might have worked so hard to build something, or worked so hard to and you had a dream and you were really trying hard to make it reality. And the fruits of your efforts have disappeared, or it's not going the way you wanted it to go, these things are all tests and Allah is telling us over surety who will test us with these things. And then he says, what was she resolved in give glad tidings to those who hurt patiently persevere.
So the idea is not to get thrown off course, is to keep ourselves focused and stay on course, despite the things that Allah subhanaw taala throws away.
Remembering also that the prophets Allah, Allahu alayhi wa sallam said, wondrous is the affair of the believer, his affair is all good for him. when good things happen, then he is thankful. And that is good for him. And if bad things happen, he bears those things with patients with that software that I've that I mentioned, that comprehensive understanding of sober, and that is good for him. So wondrous is the affair of the believer. So it's a win win situation for us. If only we will look at it like that.
Remember that ALLAH SubhanA, Allah, Allah tests those who he loves. The prophets were the most tested people, and then the people who are the next close in character and in status to the prophets, and then the next and then the next and then the next. So if you are being tested, although it's hard to sometimes look at it like this, as long as you are keeping your relationship with Allah good. Making sure that you are you are keeping Allah in your mind and keeping him as number one in your life.
Then see it as good news for you. But Allah subhanaw taala is testing you because He loves you.
And the test is a chance for you to earn good deeds and for your sins to be expiated.
So these are some of the ways in which we can overcome those tests and challenges. Most of these things are internal. If you notice, there are things that we have to internalize and realize for ourselves internally. And through that, you know, the sobor and the and the dignity of facing those tests will manifest itself.
The second area that I mentioned, the second question that many sisters have in their minds is
I'm finding it so hard to stay away from these temptations.
Okay, so in that kind of situation, we have to realize that Imaan faith is something that increases and decreases. It doesn't just stay static. Yes, there are times when even you know the most impressive show you can speak is that you might hear have a low in the Imam and times when the Eman is higher, this happens to all human beings. Even the Sahaba used to talk about this the companions of the Prophet salallahu Alaihe Salam, they would say when we are with you, ya rasool Allah, we we just feel like we're on a different world cloudline We're on a different level of faith, and then we go back to our families, we go back to our businesses, and then you know, it feels like how Imam has
gone down. This is a phenomenon that affects all human beings. And
the scholars of Islam talked about this. And they said that Eman is is not just a feeling in the heart. It's the things that we say statement and also actions, it increases with obedience to Allah and decreases with disobedience. Now what that means is that when we are feeling that that Eman low, when we are finding it hard to obey Allah, and to live our lives as Muslims, then we have to do the thing that is the opposite of what we feel like doing, which is to actually increase in the good deeds. Fight against it by increasing in the good deeds, by increasing in the good deeds. You see that you're fighting Chapin in such a way that in sha Allah that it is the only way that you will
get out of that downward spiral. Unfortunately, what happens is people when they're in that downward spiral, they're feeling depressed or they're feeling down feeling low emotion and so they stop doing good deeds, right? So they decrease in their good deeds. And what that does is it then it makes you go even further down the down the plug of all right. Whereas the only way to come back up is to actually fight against that and force yourself. And initially it will be enforcing literally forcing yourself, but then eventually, it will become easier and Sharla to do good deeds to increase in the good deeds. And it's a little bit like I heard one of the she'll explain it as it's a bit like
taming a wild horse. You know, our soul is like a wild horse. The only way to tame a wild
outdoors is for the rider to jump on the horse, and to stay on and not allow the horse to throw him off. If after, say 20 minutes, he throws him off, right, the rider will now have to probably stay on the horse for another hour in order to now tame him will take even longer, right? So our soul is a bit like that wild horse, it just wants to go berserk, right? It just wants to go, it just sees all these tempting things around it and just wants to go Preserve. And what we have to do is be that rider and tame it. So the longer we keep retaining it, the longer we try to, you know, keep
persevering in that path of obedience, increasing those good deeds, the quicker that soul will be contained in sha Allah. Okay. So that's one beautiful way of looking at it. And
really, the way we fall into temptations, is that there are certain things I would say, mentioned, I'm going to mention eight of them, eight key areas that we stop guarding.
If we guarded these things, then those temptations would become easy to avoid. Let me mention them to you. The first is guarding our Salah prayer, and we're going to be having a workshop on Salah a bit later. So I hope you attend that. So I won't go into it too much now. So guarding the five daily prayers. That's the first thing. The second thing is guarding our tongues.
Bye backbiting, lying, cheating.
Even, you know, gossip, even gossip. You know, when you look at when you study Sharia, you realize Islam doesn't actually want scandals. negative news, even if it's true, to be spread, okay? So even for example, if a person finds out that somebody has committed adultery,
they're not meant to say anything. You're not meant to say anything, even if it's true. Okay, you're not meant to start now. Okay, let me go and tell somebody let me go. And no, this is not the type of see we're not used to that. Because in our societies, it's like, let's look for the scandals, even where there is no scandal, we're going to find a scandal. And then we're going to make it into really juicy as well, right? And we're going to, we're going to list all the gory details, so that everyone can literally visualize it and picture it, right. So for example, in Britain at the moment, there's all these, you know, scandals about celebrities going on. Now, if you even indulge in
reading one article, you leave it feeling sickened, because of the level of detail that go into unnecessary detail. And this is something that is against Islam. Islam doesn't want these types of, you know, lurid details, these kinds of
on these kind of shameful things to become something that the public and people are just talking and talking about, and reading about why? Because it has a desensitizing effect on society. You know, society has a heart, and that heart becomes diseased. When we constantly hear about the scandals, and those sins, those evil things become little things to us, they become easy for us to listen to easy for us to accept over time. So that's why guarding our tongues not spreading bad news, not spreading news and talking about things that we don't need to talk about.
guarding our eyes. Okay, so from looking at nakedness, of course, from looking at things that were not meant to look at, but also, just generally keeping ourselves safe from looking at the opposite gender from looking at the opposite * unnecessarily. We don't need to looking at pictures of even, you know, the alarm I used to say, you should not you should keep your your gaze lowered even from Halal things. This is at a higher level, of course. But it's true. The more you look at media, right, the more you see these celebrities, you see these images, these images are being we are being bombarded with are affecting us.
I forgotten the name of this book that my sister is reading. But it's so all about how the images and the visual stuff that we've been bombarded with from a young age has affected the self esteem of women to such an extent that we just were not actually functioning in a normal way. We don't even realize it. But you know, our self esteem is constantly being attacked. And the way to counteract that is to lower our gazes. Nobody can force us to look if we don't want to, right. So keep your gaze guarded from seeing things that you don't need to see.
Number four guarding our ears. So from also from hearing evil things, hearing about scandals, the lurid details of scandals of backbiting, even from listening to the lyric
Send the kind of evil things that we hear happening in the music industry, etc, right? We don't need to hear about those things, those things are not helpful to us. They don't help us in any way. In fact, they have a harmful effect.
So it also means when people have like backbiting in front of us, that, you know, if we can't put a stop to it, we need to move away from that, realizing that it's going to harm us. You know, it's just like if somebody was smoking in front of you, nowadays, it's not, it's not socially unacceptable to kind of move away, or to ask them to stop, right? Well, backbiting is even worse, has an even worse effect on society. And on ourselves. It's a major sin. So we have to keep away from guarding. Number five guarding our stomachs. Okay, so eating pure food, eating healthy food, eating halal, not eating too much. The scholars talk about how a lot of the laziness and then the
negative attributes that human beings end up having, are due to over eating, indulging over indulging in food. Because, you know, like, one of the scholars when he saw somebody with a big stomach, he said to them, you know, this is like the dunya. This is a part of the dunya, that's on you. Your indulgence in the dunya. This is a kind of a manifestation of that. I know it's hard, it's hard to stay away from hunger, we live in a situation of ease and a situation where food isn't something we don't even think about. But guarding the stomach through fasting, this is this is one way we can do that to train our desires. Because the stomach is very much attached to the to the
other desires that we have. Number six, guarding our private parts. Okay, so that doesn't just mean not falling into Zina into fornication or adultery. It also means closing the doors to everything that could lead to that, right Allah says in the Quran, wala Takara boo Zina don't even go near it. Right. So all these things that we do things, for example, that Subhanallah even talking of the celebrity scandals that are going on not that I've read about them, you know, but half of the problems, you know, when you read about the thing, right, so these girls were alone in rooms with these men, right? Think about the hikma in Allah subhanaw taala telling us that when a man and a
woman are alone in a room, completely secluded, then chips ah, shape on is the third person there. Right? Think of the wisdom in us, you know, protecting ourselves in that way from being in those situations off of these women, nobody's gonna nobody believes them. Because they don't have any proof. They don't have any witnesses, because they were literally alone. It's literally their word against this man's right. These are the types of things that Allah is protecting us from. So these laws and these rules that we look at, and people say to us, you know, Oh, these are oppressive towards you know, these are Allah Subhana. Allah is love for us, His protection of us as women,
because he realizes we are vulnerable, we are vulnerable. And if, if anything, if there's anything you can take away from these scandals that you read about, it's this, that it doesn't matter how much women say, you know, we are equal to men were the same as men we can we should be treated exactly the same. No men exploit women, men do exploit women and women are more exploitable than men.
This is what Allah subhanaw taala is showing us. And this is why Allah has protected us so much as women.
Because he knows that that nature he made us He knows us better than we know ourselves. So God your God, your chastity by lowering your gaze, by not having a relationship with a man outside of marriage, by not intermingling unnecessarily, you know, keep yourself the Muslim woman is not just covered in you know, outwardly, the hijab is not just an outward thing. It's an inner thing. And there's a real beauty to that modesty, that demure illness, I don't know if that's a word demure temerity and others know.
That demure nature of a woman. Right, there's a there's a real beauty to that. And Allah wants us to have that and to preserve our real personalities, if you like
to be something precious for people who are precious to us.
So preserve your and it also means of course, the hijab covering ourselves properly. All these things, you know, they are important that they all add to that add to creating a chaste and a healthy society. Number seven guarding our hands from doing haram. So any transaction that we do with our hands, stealing, all of these kinds of things. Sometimes we fall into things that become a habit that we don't realize, are haram. For example, when we borrow something from someone
without the intention of really giving it back, you know, all those books people have taken.
You know, and you just know, don't you? You're never gonna see that book again. But this is not the characteristic of Muslims, we're supposed to be people of Amana of trust, that when somebody gives you something, they know for sure, they would definitely get that thing back.
Just remember the library books as well. stuff, it shouldn't be like that. So yes, we need to bring ourselves to account about that. Our hands, what are we doing with our hands become sensitive to that, and number eight, guarding our feet. So walking to the police's of haram, as a Muslim, we don't we are conscious of where we are seeing. It's important actually, like some of our shields, they said to us, they may even be halal places, right? Technically, it's okay to go to those places. But as a student of knowledge, as a Muslim, or as somebody who's visibly Muslim, you should not be seen in those places, you know, or near those places, because it's not appropriate.
So guarding our feet, from even going towards the places of haram.
So these are the eight things that if we were to God, these and if you think about it, these are like the senses, the things that actually cause us to be affected by the outside world, if we act using them, so if we were to God these then inshallah we would find facing temptations easier.
And the last,
the last question that I said that many sisters ask is, how, how is it possible for me, in this difficult climate in this difficult situation?
To be a pious person, it's too hard to be a religious person in our times in our context.
Well, for that, I think, we just have to remember the Hadith of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, when he said
that Islam began as something strange.
But the Al Islam have already been began is something strange. And it will return to being something strange.
So give glad tidings to the strangers.
So my sisters, we may be of those strangers. And it's an honor for us to be of those strangers.
And we have a confidence that, that believe me, people, people wish they had, when we go out there, when we're not afraid to be Muslims, visibly, when we're not afraid to obey Allah, in public and in private. When it comes to the time of prayer, and we're willing to pray, even when there are people, you know, might see us
that type of thing Subhanallah it does put us sometimes in a in a situation where we feel like strangers, we may even feel like strangers within our own families, whether you whether you were brought up a Muslim or not. There are families that are making it difficult for their family members to be true to Islam. So just remember that advice of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, keep it in your mind, glad tidings to the strangers. And that will leave you
with this beautiful
thought and this beautiful Hadith of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
because it's really good news for us.
In sha Allah, the Prophet salallahu Alaihe Salam one day he was visiting the Martins of Wuhan. You know, the the Companions who died in the battle of boyhood, including his own uncle Hamza,
and he was weeping and the Companions asked him, Why are you crying? And he said, Sal, Allahu alayhi wa sallam.
He said, I yearn to meet my brothers and sisters.
And they said, We are not your brothers and sisters.
And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said to them, No, you are my companions, you are my US hub. My brothers and sisters are those who come after my death. And they believe in me without even seeing me.
So he recognized my sisters, that it was an amazing thing, that there would be people who come, you know, hundreds 1000s of years after he came, who and who had never seen him and they believe in Him. And in sha Allah, I pray to Allah that we we are amongst them. And may Allah convey to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam the message that
we indeed believe in Him, even though we have not seen him.
So my sisters are living with that thought. We are living in times when things seem hard, but, you know, as we've heard from sisters before me, there are people who are facing much more than us there are people who wish they had the problems that we had, you know, most of our problems are usually as they call it.
As my husband calls it up,
lewenza
My husband says to me, you just have affluenza. Okay, actually wenzer is when you are so affluent, when you have all your needs are being met, right? That you literally look for problems to have, right? Of course there are those amongst us who are really are tested. But my sister's really, you know, if we put our tests into context, if we built all of these things in mind, if we take the precautions that I mentioned, of guarding all of these things, in sha Allah in sha Allah, and also bearing in mind that in sha Allah, the prophets, Allah Salam, when we meet him on your local Yama, who will greet us as his brothers and sisters, those who came after him who never saw him and yet
they they believed, then inshallah it should give us strength it should give us hope in a time when holding on to Islam can be like holding on to hot coals, so inshallah with that I will finish Subhanak Allahu Allah will be handing a shadow Allah ilaha illa Anta stop Furukawa to be like