Hamzah Wald Maqbul – Khutbah How to Deal With Affliction and Happiness MALV 09222017
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By the father of Allah
we reached the
end
of
the 1438th
year
after the hijra of Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
and the beginning of the 1439th
year.
And time passes
as Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala describes in his
book.
These are days.
We divide them up between people.
Sometimes one person is on top. Sometimes one
person is on the bottom.
Sometimes the person is happy. Sometimes they're suffering.
Sometimes they're in
a state of hardship. Sometimes they're in a
state of ease. Sometimes somebody is focused.
And sometimes years go by and the person
is completely heedless.
And
if you live long enough,
you will see everything happen. Nothing will surprise
you anymore.
Specifically, the days that we live in, the
time that we live in,
the last week or couple of weeks,
the last month, couple of months.
We've seen such an intensity,
such an intensity of catastrophes, and it's such
a frequency of catastrophes.
Like a parade coming.
One natural disaster after the other.
One man made disaster after the other.
Both at home, domestically in this country, and
abroad.
And curiously,
people like myself and people like yourselves,
in masajid like these,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala by and large has
kept us in a good state, in a
state of Afiya.
A person lives in a strange
condition when they find themselves in such circumstances.
Because at the same time,
you witnessed the destruction of entire Amzar, Metropoli.
Not 100, thousands, hundreds of thousands of people,
millions of people suffering in front of your
eyes.
Yet,
you see things are not well around you,
but you're also still in a good state.
And the Rasul, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, prescribed
a sunnah for people who are going through
each and every one of these states.
For each and every one of these states.
The person who is happy in a happy
time, the person who's going through difficulty in
a happy time, the person who's going through
difficulty in a difficult time, and the person
who's in a state of ease in a
in a difficult time. This niyama, this blessing
Allah gave us an
What is
is happiness, but there are several words in
the Arabic language
for happiness.
Not all of them are positive.
Don't be exuberant. Don't be bubbly
and and brainless
and enjoying yourself and being happiness and being
happy when you don't have a reason to
be happy.
That type of enjoyment, Allah doesn't like it.
Afiyyah is what? It's the type of happiness
that a person has which is a complete
and holistic happiness. It's a true happiness. And
Rasulullah salallahu alaihi wa sallam commanded this ummah
to ask Allah ta'ala, that's
If you ask Allah ta'ala, ask for this
afia.
Many people,
there's a type of piety in this as
well, but many people will make a laundry
list of things of what they want from
Allah
And the fact of the matter is if
you truly want something, he's the one to
ask.
But there's a type of trust in Allah
that also comes with what? With
telling Allah to Allah or asking Allah to
Allah for happiness and letting him chart the
way it happens. So that when things don't
happen according to your own plan, the one
who has true love for Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala, to that person, Allah's plan is more
beloved to them than their own plan.
To the person who loves Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala, Allah's plan is more beloved to them
than their own plan. This is very easy
to say, by the way. It's very difficult
to implement in your life because the issue
is that we want things really badly, and
the things that we want always don't happen.
So the beginning stage is what? If something
happens that you don't like,
then you say, this came from Allah
I'll be patient. There must be good in
it.
But a person's iman gets to a point
where what? Sometimes the the thing Allah chooses
for you, you are intuitively aware of how
superior
it is to your own choice. How much
better it is for you than your own
choice.
So just like a person who's going through
difficulty,
it is sinful and it is
untoward for them to
lament. Why me?
Why out of all people am I sick?
Why out of all people am I going
through difficulty?
Why out of all people did I take
financial loss? Why out of all people did
my car get into an accident, etcetera?
Just like that's not proper. Adab with Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala,
it's also not proper for a person who
is in a good state.
Even though they see destruction and suffering around
them to ask Allah ta'ala, why am I
the only one that's doing well and feel
guilty and feel bad about it?
Rather, there is something Allah wants from a
person in each and every state.
Now,
this is a discussion amongst the Usuli theorists
of the Sharia
with regards to 2 paired
virtues in Islam.
Sabr and Shukr.
Shukr and Sabr being thankful and having gratitude
to Allah
versus
being patient with Allah decree.
And
gratitude
comes with what? It comes with blessing.
And comes with what? It comes with tribulation.
If the reward for shukr is high,
it's a hadith of
that the person who eats and is truly
thankful to Allah,
that person is in a station with Allah,
like the station of what? Like the station
of those people who are fasting, they're hungry
for the sake of Allah.
If the reward for Sabr is
If you are thankful, I will increase you
in what you have.
If the maqam of Sabr is a rare
maqam,
Very, very few of my very, very few
of my slaves are thankful.
Allah gives people
a a situation,
the people of Iman.
Right? How wondrous is the affair of the
believer because all of his affair is good.
Allah gives the people in iman that state
which is good for them.
So the person who
is in difficulty,
if that person had afea, maybe that person
that person was in a happy state, maybe
that person, their happiness would have led them
to heedlessness.
And the person who is in happiness, this
is also mercy from Allah
aside from the enjoyment,
the fact that they enjoy being happy.
Because some people, when they come under stress,
they buckle and fall apart, their deen would
have been destroyed.
Even if the the the maqam of Shukr
is what?
Is rare.
If you look on the other side, the
majority of the ulema say that
gains a person and garners for a person
more reward than superior reward. All other circumstances
being equal and in normal cases. There may
be exceptions, but all other circumstances being equal.
Allah ta'ala says in his book,
The people of patience so if the reward
for shukr is what?
You you thank me, I'll give you more
of what you thank me for.
The reward for sabr is what? It's
without any mathematical
relationship between the amount of patience the person
had and the amount of reward that they're
going to get. It's something that's limitless and
it's something that's boundless.
And this is something that's repeated in the
Sharia. Again and again, there's a lot of
expounding that we can do, but the time
for Jumuah is very short.
So the first
reminder I wanted to make to myself and
to others as well
is that this is a part of protestant
theology.
There are many churches and things like that
in our neighborhood, and we respect them as
fellow citizens.
And we look out for them, they look
out for us, and we, definitely give them
accord them their status, of respect that they
deserve as fellow human beings and as our
neighbors, etcetera.
But we believe differently than they do. There's
something in Protestant Theology called the,
called the, the Protestant work ethic and prosperity
gospel. Ideas that what?
The reward for
virtue and the reward for living a moral
life is what? That God will give you
a materially prosperous existence in this world.
And the corollary to that is what? That
if a person is materially suffering,
this suffering is directly tied to
their
inferior morality or their inferior,
following of,
the path that Allah has chosen for them
or that Allah is pleased with for them.
And because
the civilization
that was built on this understanding,
there's a lot of theology that underpins it.
There's a lot of it's in itself something
that is the subject of a several hour
discussion just to introduce.
But because of this civilization being ascendant and
dominant,
economically,
and militarily, culturally in the world today,
we're also part of that civilization whether we
ascribe to that deen or not.
Because of that, it pervades and it enters
into people's understanding of Islam as well. Whereas,
what does the deen teach?
As for the human being, if he if
if his lord tests him and tries him
and, gives him,
honors him with wealth, that person says, oh,
look. My lord has honored me.
Alright? And another person, if, their lord tests
them by constricting their their wealth,
that person says, my lord has humiliated me.
What is the what is the Allah comment
about this thing that people say or this
set of things that people say?
No. It's wrong.
It's wrong. It's hadith of Rasool Allahu Alaihi
Wa Salam.
That if this
entire material creation
meant to Allah Ta'ala
what
the wing of a gnat means to one
of you. What is a gnat?
A gnat is a an insect which is
smaller than a mosquito.
If this entire creation meant to Allah
what the wing of a nah means to
one of you,
Allah wouldn't give a person who disbelieves in
him even a sip of water.
But the idea is what? It means less
than that.
It means what? It means less than that.
Now the problem is because of the attitude
of,
this prosperity gospel,
we ourselves, as a community, sometimes I mean,
very few people think of theological
issues, like,
explicitly. It's just usually something that's there in
in your subconscious. You don't say, well, my
position is this because of that. It's something
there in your subconscious. We've imbibed in ourselves
this idea that somehow people who are going
through tribulation or somehow people who are going
through wrong deserve it. And the fact of
the matter is, as individuals, they may deserve
it. The fact of the matter is, as
nations, they may deserve it
or they may not.
And Allah
is the one who makes that decision.
And
what basis he makes that decision
upon
is a secret that you and I are
never going to understand. We're not able to
understand and to attempt to understand that secret
in and of itself is an affront to
Allah to Allah. Don't you see how he
says in his book,
he's not to be asked why he does
what he does.
Rather, he's he's the one that the creation,
they'll be asked by him.
This doesn't mean that things don't happen for
a reason, and it doesn't mean that we're
not allowed to ponder
certain wisdoms of certain things happening in certain
ways. But at the end of the day,
to stand up and say, this is why
that happens without the aid of explicit the
explicit text of revelation.
The word of Allah to Allah and His
Rasool, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, you and I
are not allowed to say earthquake happened in
such and such place. This is because of
their sins. Flood happened in such and such
place. This is because of their sins. Muslims
are kicked out of this such and such
place because of their sins, or anyone else
is kicked out of another place because of
their sins. You are not you and I
are not allowed to say that.
It's possible.
In fact, Allah ta'ala, he himself says in
his book,
Fear
such an afflictions, fear such a punishment.
The word fitna, the meaning of it is
punishment.
The majazi, the metaphorical meaning of it is
a test that you will fail that will
result in punishment.
Fear from Allah and protect yourself from Allah
from such a punishment that doesn't only afflict
those people who are wrongdoers amongst you exclusively.
Meaning what? In this world, Allah's decision when
it comes down, it comes down on nations.
Bad nations have good people in them. Good
nations have bad people on them. If good
people are enjoying the, you know, a 100
good people, the one bad person with them
will enjoy as well in this world.
And the vice versa is also true. Yomuqiama,
allata will sort them out. Good people 100
of them will go to Jannah, the one
bad person will be punished by Allah if
he chooses not to forgive him. And the
other way around is correct as well.
But you and I, we have abandoned and
jettisoned the sunnah of the messenger of Allah
sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam by assuming because people are and oftentimes,
again, we don't say it explicitly. It's just
a feeling in the heart.
But the feeling is real.
And what's inside of the heart is important
because the
The day of judgment is a day that
a person will not be benefited by their
wealth nor by their
sons. They will only be benefited
if they come to Allah with a pure
heart. So these feelings in the heart sometimes
that we don't don't even give words to,
that we're not even aware of. These are
important things. We need to clean house with
regards to these things. That we don't look
at somebody else who goes through a tribulation
and look down on them.
The idea is sometimes people go through worldly
tribulation, and sometimes people go through
happiness in this world,
and the the worldly part of it is
the least important thing that's going on.
There are good people who do well. There
are good people who suffer. There are bad
people who do well. There are bad people
who suffer. Allah ta'ala himself, his messenger sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam said all of this worldly
stuff that you judge people by, this doesn't
mean anything to Allah ta'ala.
Allah doesn't look it's a hadith of Rasool
Allah subhaalahu alaihi wa sallam. He doesn't look
at your body. He doesn't look at your
your outward,
he doesn't look at your outward state. Rather,
he looks inside of your heart and the
person whose heart he sees something good in,
Allah ta'ala loves that person. Allah ta'ala will
will have mercy on such a person.
So coming back to this issue, the first
thing we have to get out of our
heart is this idea that what somebody is
suffering, this must be their fault. Even if
it's their fault. Even if it's their fault,
still you have to have mercy. You still
have to have kindness and for them. Don't
you see how Rasulullah salallahu
alaihi wa sallam used to be kind to
his enemies, kinder to his enemies, and some
of us can muster for our own friends.
Forget about our friends, then some of us
can muster in terms of kindness for our
own wives, for our own children, for our
own husbands, for our own parents, our own
relatives.
Don't you see how he used to be
pained by people's pain? How he wasn't callous,
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. How when people went
through lust, he would go to the families
to grieve and he would grieve with them,
he would cry with them.
He taught this to Sahaba radiAllahu anhu. Sayedna
is the is the the legendary
tough guy
of the Don't you know he used to
when a battle would happen, he would pace
back and forth
at the gate that faces the the the
place the battle is happening and wait for
news of what happened.
And when the the the bashir,
the bearer of glad tidings, the herald of
glad tidings, inevitably would come back with the
news of victory.
He would he would first ask first thing
he would ask,
who gave their life in the path of
Allah
So and so was martyred in the path
of Allah Ta'ala. So and so, son of
so and so was martyred in the path
of Allah Ta'ala. So and so and so,
the son of so and so was martyred
in the path of Allah Ta'ala. And a
great number of people, Amirul Mumineen, doesn't know
who they are.
And his response was documented in one's education
that he cried and he said, what does
it bother them? What does it harm them?
That
Allah knows them, and Umar doesn't know them.
And he used to weep.
He didn't be
go to Jannahi. Suck it up.
Kid, Kid, you're gonna grow up without a
father. He's in Jannah. You're probably your whole
family will go to Jannah because of his
piety. Suck it up. No. He used to
grieve with people. He used to feel their
loss.
Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam in a in a
hadith
2 several hadith that come with different but
similar wordings by several different companions.
Don't you know that he's the one who
said, well, in
And in a different
That the people who will go through the
most tribulation,
the people who go through the most tribulation
is Umma are who? The prophet alaihi mus
salam.
Then those who are most like them, meaning
the best of this Ummah, and then those
who are most like them, the ones who
are the best in this Ummah.
And in a different narration,
he said and this is this narration explains
and actually is a is a a a
a commentary and an explanation of the first
narration.
That the people in this Umma who will
go through the most tribulation are who? The
prophet sala alayhi wasalam.
Then after them, the ulema, the people of
knowledge. And then after them, the salihin, the
people who are meticulous in their observation of
the sacred law. No no commandment of Allah
and His Rasool sallallahu alaihi wa sallam is
small for them. They obey all of them
all of them. And at least in front
of other people, they obey all of them.
Whether you and I may think that those
commandments are small or large, whether you and
I may try to weasel out of them
or may have ease in in obeying them,
they obey all of them. That this is
the order of going through difficulty in this
life that Allah has set for the people
of this Ummah. This is who who's saying
this? Rasulullah salallahu alaihi sallam is saying this.
So when you see somebody going through difficulty,
the default assumption should be what? The default
assumption should be what? That statistically there's more
of a chance that this person is more
pious than I am than there is a
chance that this person is a bad person,
quote unquote, deserves it. Don't you know haven't
you read the the books of Aqidah? The
Aqidah Tawawiya is like a pamphlet of of
the basic of the alisun or jama'a,
accepted by accepted by the entire,
umma.
This this, afti al tahawiyah itself, like number
a number a number countless number of
of of Aqidah books, they all say the
same thing, that
nobody is going to enter into Jannah by
Allah's
justice.
Not even the prophet salayahu alaihi wasalam.
Everybody who enters will enter by his mercy.
The people who enter something through justice are
the ones who enter into the fire.
If Allah ta'ala were to take people to
account for their sins, nobody would be left.
Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said, even I
will enter through through Allah's mercy.
If you didn't say it explicitly, we would
have considered it a form disrespect for somebody
even to mention that.
But he said it,
and he's commanded by Allah to what? To
make tablir, to make reach the message of
this deen, that this is a part of
why Allah wanted his creation to know.
So when we see that, and we ourselves
are are in a state of aafiyah, are
in a state of goodness, we should know
what does Allah want from us.
Allah wants for us first to be thankful
for what he gave us. Even if you're
the only person, literally the only person in
the Masjid that's not afflicted, You should show
thanks to Allah for
it. Then afterward, what is what is the
state of afiyyah dictate? It dictates to a
person that they also should feel
sympathy for what? Feel sympathy for other people.
You should feel sympathy for other people.
You should feel sympathy for other Muslims.
The reason we mentioned Muslims and the reason
Muslims are mentioned in in the in the
when they're going through a calamity from the
calamities of this helps a believer when they're
going through a calamity from the calamities of
this world, Allah will save them from a
calamity, the calamities of the hereafter.
The
the the the the the commentators,
they say the reason movement is mentioned here
is because of their honor amongst Allah's creation.
Otherwise, this hadith applies to every human being.
You should feel you should feel some sort
of sympathy for them. Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam felt sympathy for his companions. He's felt
sympathy for for for people who were idol
worshipers.
He felt sympathy for people who are sinners.
He used to weep and cry about their
their difficulties.
He used to weep and cry about the
difficulties of those companions that they were given.
Bishara, they were given glad tidings of entry
in Jannah.
So what? You thank Allah to Allah. The
second thing is what? That you should feel
sympathy for the your fellow creation.
And the third thing is, you don't have
to sell your house and become homeless with
the homeless. You don't have to burn your
house down and become displaced with the displaced.
You don't have to make yourself poor and,
with the poor. You don't have to, leave
your home and make your wife a widow
just like other people are widowed and your
children orphans like other people are orphans.
But at the same time,
don't act like you can't do anything, you
can't give anything.
When you're confronted
with this reality that Allah didn't afflict you,
Give something.
This is Sunnah
This is this is what this is protestant
theology again. It's it's illegal in many,
if not most
jurisdictions
in in America and in Western Europe to
give,
money to a beggar. It's a crime, actually.
You can get a ticket for it. Right?
This is not this is not our deen.
If somebody asks you for something,
you don't have to take the 100 out
of your wallet and give it to them.
But that doesn't mean that what? That that
you should not give the person a quarter.
Oh, shit. They're gonna go buy drugs with
it. Go buy them food.
Give them a quarter.
Allah is not going to ask you that,
you know, unless you said, okay, there's a
crack dealer down the street. Go buy no.
Allah is not gonna ask you. He said,
I gave him because he asked, and this
is the sun of your Rasulullah alaihi wa
sallam. What he did with the money is
his problem.
Obviously, if you know they're gonna misuse it,
that's different. But sometimes there are ambiguity,
Your transaction is not with this person in
front of you. Your transaction is with the
lord.
These are habits. These are habits that you
never say no to somebody. Even if your
pocket is empty. Even if your pocket is
empty when somebody asks you for something,
at least give them a dua rather than
showing them a face and think why do
these people why do they should get a
job? It's America. There's so much money. These
people are lazy. Stuff for
Allah. Stuff for Allah. This is not the
It's a commandment of the book of Allah
It's one of the first commandments of revelation.
Give for the sake of Allah. Say, Sheikh,
really I don't have any money. Give from
your time.
Sheikh, I don't have any time. I can't
I can't leave. There's some people who are
so ill they cannot leave from their beds.
Then sit and make dua for the ummah
of the prophet
With the inside of your heart, that what?
That Allah hears your prayers and it will
make a difference.
And the interesting part is what? The person
who does that, that person,
it will touch their heart in such a
way, they will do something. They will do
something. It won't leave their heart the same
it was before they made that dua.
Allah continue
continue the blessing of Afiyyah on us and
on our on this land and on this
masjid and on this community and on the
Ummah of Sayid Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
As long as we have this deen, we
have everything even if our other circumstances may
seem constrained.
Allah relieve the suffering of the the difficulties
of the people, the ummah of the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, and indeed of all
people around us. Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, give
us aphia, and if he tests us, may
he give us from iman and from strength
and from
and from courage, what we need in order
to get through those tests without failure, in
order to get through through those tests and
be forgiven and be given
reward that is not,
computable and it's not,
understandable through
mathematics and arithmetic. Allah to Allah give so
so much toffik to all of us.