Lobna Mulla – The Power of Optimism
AI: Summary ©
The founder of Muslim Marriage Rejuvenation Retreat, Asad conscious, introduces the founder and discusses the importance of optimism and trust in Islam's implementation. He emphasizes the importance of trust in the implementation of Subhan regulations and the benefits of it, including the ability to see the good in the midst of difficult situations. The speaker also reminds the audience to be mindful of the strong belter and to be a stronger Muslim in the face of difficult situations.
AI: Summary ©
Let's welcome our now our next speaker,
Asadullahumnayousef.
See, I said Asadullahumnayousef
because I left out her last name, Mullah,
because she's a Yousef. Asadullahumnayousef
is a motivational speaker and community educator.
She first served on the board and is
currently their terbiyah director of Yaqeen Institute For
Islamic Research. She's also the cofounder
of the Muslim Marriage Rejuvenation Retreat, and Mashallah
Asadullahabna was the former former National Tarbiyyah Director
of Mass. And I have to say this
every single year, not only my sister in
Islam, but my biological sister. Let's welcome Asadullahobna.
As salaamu alaykum everyone.
It's a pleasure and honor to be here
amongst all of you at hamdulillah, a real
benefit, hamdulillah.
Bismillah, assalamu
ala Rasulillah.
So inshallah, I wanted to spend these next
few minutes talking about optimism, and wallahi, it's
a wonderful gift that we have, that Allah
has placed it amongst the prophets. We find
it in the Quran,
and we find it on the tongue of
prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam. Oftentimes there's some
people who say optimism, shmoptism, you know, I'm
a realist. I just like to be realistic,
which is a code word sometimes, sometimes for
tending to be a little bit on the
pessimistic side. Or sometimes people even talk about
a concept like toxic positivity,
where you're just no matter what is going
on people are suffering or somebody's really upset,
and you're like, it's just gonna be okay,
and you you kind of bypass the emotions.
But what I'm talking about is something that
prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam mentioned, and
he said something very beautiful. He said, I'm
amazed by optimism,
the good word, the kind word.
It's words that uplift the spirit. It's words
that give us hope. And he also said
something very powerful, subhanAllah, that describes optimism, I
think, in a beautiful way. And when he
said amazing is the affair of the believer,
for there is good for him in every
matter, and that is not the case with
anyone except for the believer.
If he is happy, if something good happens
to him, then he is thankful and that
is good for him. And if something bad
or a calamity befalls him, then he is
he is patient and that is good for
him. And this is only the case for
the believers. SubhanAllah.
So what's amazing is that we are seeing,
subhanAllah,
I believe, the implementation,
what it really means to be optimistic
when we see our fellow brothers and sisters
in Philistines. May Allah grant them strength. May
Allah
grant them dignity, and may Allah protect them
and give them the tebat, give them the
the the the constants to keep going, the
perseverance, I want to say.
What do I mean by that?
It's that that even when they see that
some of their family members have been martyred,
that they look towards the positive. They're acknowledging
the pain,
but they're saying, alhamdulillah,
this person
is in Jannah,
being nourished
in Jannah,
happy with what he is being nourished with.
That despite the pain and despite the rubble
and despite everything else, it's being able to
see the positive. It's, yes, I'm suffering, and
yes, this happened to me, and I'm so
grateful to you, Allah. Allah Subhaana Wa Ta'la
reminds us in the Quran,
that if you are grateful towards me, I
will increase you. That's the beautiful thing about
gratitude, subhanahu wa ta'ala. I think it's very
closely tied to optimism.
Have you guys ever been around somebody
that maybe you're in a situation? Okay. It's
a little bit difficult, and they just keep
pointing out all of the negative things. Right?
Oh, that we're late, and this has happened,
and this is not good, and we're starving,
and this is bad, and blah blah blah.
Whatever the situation is.
But you can be sitting there, subhanAllah, and
you're in the same situation,
but you're saying, alhamdulillah, that we're in a
comfortable space. Alhamdulillah, that we're both here together.
Alhamdulillah,
that we're, you know, not cold or we're
not hot. We're we're okay. We're safe.
It's being able to see the positive amidst
the difficult times, and as Sheikh Omar and
all of the esteemed, Sheikh Mustafa Omar and
all of our other esteemed speakers have been
talking about, we will be tested and there
will be difficult times. But optimism allows you
to see the good
in the midst of all of the things
that may be difficult. SubhanAllah.
As Isma'han also mentioned,
that we see the implementation, we see the
exercising of optimism in the Quran when we
hear the stories of Nuh alaihis salam. For
example, he was commanded to build an ark.
Did you know that he had to plant
the trees so he could harvest the trees,
so he can build the ark? And where
was he when he was doing this, by
the way? He was doing it in the
desert. People would mock him and make fun
of him. Oh, where are you gonna? We're
going to
drive this ship in the sand.
He had that optimism. He had that hope
in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He had that
trust, and that's extremely important. What about Hajar?
Hajar, when Ibrahim, alayhis salaam left her and
baby Ishmael in the desert, and she's very
astonished.
Why are you leaving us? Why are you
leaving us? And Ibrahim had to leave as
he was commanded by Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
and then the thought came to her. Wait
a minute. Did Allah command you to do
this? Then verily Allah will not leave us.
Allah will not abandon us. That's optimism.
That's optimism, Subhan, and her optimism
is what has
laid down the footsteps
for for one of the most important aspects
of of a Muslim's life in terms of
Hajj.
Millions and millions and millions of people have
followed in her footsteps due to her optimism.
Not only number 1, in trusting Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala that there must be a reason
that I was left here,
and number 2, when she also made the
endeavor, she also made the strife. Like Maryam
when she shook the tree, she kept going
between Safa and Marwa,
looking, looking, looking. Even though there's nothing, she
made the effort. That's optimism. That's a hope
that Allah
will open the doors for her. What about
when Maryam
was sent
with baby Isa, but to go back to
her people, but she was not allowed to
speak?
How does she know what's going to happen?
She just knows she's not allowed to speak,
and how does she know that baby Isa
was going to speak?
SubhanAllah.
Totally amazing. So that trust that Musa alayhis
salam had when he,
told his people, subhanAllah, not to despair when
they're facing the ocean in front of them,
the sea in front of them, and Firaun's
army is behind them,
And he said,
don't worry that Allah will be with us.
SubhanAllah.
That's optimism.
So it's very important to remember, and is
and SubhanAllah, naturally,
naturally, naturally, when we read about all the
atrocities,
when we hear the disinformation,
the lies, people who are getting punished for
spreading the truth, it's natural to get frustrating
during these difficult times, especially with what's going
on in Gaza.
But I hear just to remind you as
I remind myself and my family, and subhanAllah,
I'm listening to the good words, the optimistic
words of other speakers that are uplifting me.
Sometimes we want to just shut down. We
feel horrible. Even when we saw the video,
it's upsetting.
You wanna shut down. It's a natural good
reaction that you're having and just reminding ourselves
that the strong believer is more beloved to
Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala than the weak believer.
Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala is testing you, and
of course we're gonna have a whole another
session next inshallah talking about how our test
is to keep going in, inshallah, in terms
of our belief in Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala,
but to take action. And there's going to
be so many ways that we're going to
talk about through this entire convention and how
we can take action. So that is the
that is the beauty of optimism.
It's being able to see through the present,
to know that the reward with Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala is greater, to know that there
is going to be exponential growth after this
difficulty,
and with every difficulty that there's going to
be ease.
And guess what? Aside from a spiritual benefit,
there is a physical benefit in terms of
being optimistic. Studies have been done
on people who are more optimistic in nature,
that they are more healthy, subhanAllah, that they
tend to live longer, that they, tend to
have higher immune systems, subhanAllah.
So it is a win win situation. When
we put our trust in Allah,
we will be the stronger Muslim insha'Allah. We
will be able to be the soldiers for
Islam in this country,
and upholding, subhanAllah, hope for all Muslims.
All Muslims who are able to do anything
are upholding the hope for the ummah, and
also to be able to be healthy and
functioning Muslims, not only in the community, but
in our own families. Your kids still need
you. Your spouse still needs you. Your friends
still need you. Your parents still need you.
SubhanAllah, your siblings need you to be functioning
and healthy so that optimism is something that
can help us to continue despite these difficult
times. May Allah keep us steadfast on this
deen and to keep us up optimistic in
the hope of Allah.
Thank you, sister, for the beautiful reminder of
the power of optimism
and and being positive.