Maryam Amir – God Sees Your Struggle
AI: Summary ©
The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam is a gift given to praying woman who is unable to pursue prayer. The woman is vulnerable and difficult, and she is given a symbol to pursue her prayer. The speaker discusses the importance of gratitude and affirmations in achieving prayer, and the use of multiple names in Surah succeeding in different ways. The importance of forgiveness is emphasized, and the need for individuals to act with their body and not feel like no one is there to assist them is emphasized. The importance of working on one's relationship with Allah is emphasized, and forgiveness is emphasized as a means of charity.
AI: Summary ©
The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, as Ibn Hajj explained, is
telling us that if you're struggling to do something for
Allah's sake, even if you don't want to do it, and you're leaving
something for Allah's sake, even if you want to do it, that doesn't
make you a hypocrite, that makes you a struggling warrior and makes
you a spiritual warrior. So how do we have this logo when we're
seeking Allah's face and his pleasure? Life? Your life is the
first part of this verse. You live in your life already means you're
part of this verse. The second part where Allah starts giving us
ways in which we can reach him. He says
that those people who establish prayer. Now, I know we hear a lot
about we should pray,
but we underestimate how powerful Salah is for our lives.
Salah was revealed as an obligation the Prophet sallallahu,
alayhi wasallam lost Khadija Lali Allah. He lost his best friend. He
lost the one person who was always supporting him, this woman who
believed in him before anyone else did, the one who comforted him
when he was terrified. He lost her, and he lost Abu Talib,
the one person who was a father figure, who was a protector for
him. He lost both of two of the most important people in his life
at a very close time,
and then on top of that. He's now seeking support from somewhere.
He leaves Mecca. They've done with the boycott. They've doubled the
persecution. He leaves Mecca, and he goes to Lafayette, and he's
looking, not necessarily for anyone to believe in Him, but just
to provide that type of support for him.
And you know what it's feel like to be judged, to be rejected, to
feel like you've been isolated, to feel like people don't accept you.
You know what that feeling is like. So imagine the Prophet
salallahu alayhi wa sallam, just losing two of the most important
people going to plot, if seeking some type of comfort, and when he
goes to the pot, if the people of poet, they don't accept him. Not
only do they not accept him, they cast him out of their city by
throwing stones at him. Have their children throwing stones at him.
So much so that as the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is
leaving their city, there's his feet are filled with blood every
time when you walk and your feet get soaking wet and you hear that
water sloshing, that was blood filling the feet of the Prophet so
long Aliyah was sent them, when Aisha rajna asked him about the
hardest time in his life, he said it was that time the Father.
So now we have times that are some of the most difficult in our
lives, where sometimes we may not feel like we belong. In a space,
where sometimes we might be going through depression, where some of
you might know someone, or maybe yourself, who has cut yourself, or
who has even tried to commit suicide. You've been low before,
and that's a reality of life. What does the Prophet salallahu alayhi
wa sallam experience in the lowest point of his life?
Is rawa Miraj,
the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa Salam is taken and he's taken to
Jerusalem, where he leads his brothers, his other the other
prophets, who have gone through the type of trials and
difficulties, like Adam alaihi salam, where his own son killed
his other son, like nu Alam, after almost 1000 years of calling
people to him, they still reject him. His own Son rejects him,
where Ibrahim, alaihi salam, he's rejected by his dad. The issues
that mean you go through the same ones of the prophets, ones where
alayhi wa salam. So what happens? You leave them in Salah, the very
people who've been broken by their people, but they never broke
because they had Allah.
And then he was taken up to the to the heavens to meet Allah subhanho
wa taala. And what is he given here in the most vulnerable time
of the life of the prophet, saw them, he is given the gift of
Salah. Salah was given as a gift, and it wasn't just for the
Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam. It was meant to be a gift
for me and you. So when we look at salah, how is it a gift for our
daily lives, Allah tells us what did that Asmaa federal to Allah
belongs to most beautiful names. So pray to Him with them when this
verse was revealed, the mushrik.
Look of Mecca. We're like the Prophet. Saw them, this man. He
heard them. He heard they, excuse me, the mushrik would hear the
believers calling upon Allah with the name Allah, with Allah, with
Al adya. They're hearing all these different names, so they're saying
to the about the Prophet saw them. He told us we can't worship all
these different gods, and yet he's calling upon all these different
gods. So Allah, revealed to God, belongs the most beautiful name.
So call to him. Call upon him with them. So Allah is a relationship
and a conversation with the one we can call to with the names that
he's revealed to us. We begin when we say Alhamdulillah. Mean, we
begin with praise, and before that, we actually came with
Ismail, wahman and Rahim. And why? Why is it that we feel that Allah
is out to get us? How many times have you felt like you've
committed a sin and therefore Allah hates you, or you've made a
mistake in the past. You have, I have to, may Allah protect us all.
It's a reality, because our community, sometimes, not just
communities in general, sometimes make us feel like in order to be
close to Allah, we have to be this insane, pious, insane level of
piety. Pious people are people who struggle for the sake of Allah
that is piety. And when we begin with Bismillahi and Rahman and
Rahim, we are constantly reaffirming the names of Rahman
and of Rahim, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Every single
Surah except for one, begins with those names, and the one that does
it, another Surah has it again. So this, this, these names are
constant in the Quran. So why do we feel like Allah isn't pleased
with us, that he's out to get us, that he wants to punish us? Allah
is not petty. Allah loves you, and he sees your struggle and he
appreciates it, which is why when we say Abu Daal, mean it's an
affirmation of gratitude to all Allah has given us when you say
abut and you're grateful for the things he's given you, that that
thankfulness, he tells us in Surah Ibrahim, that when you are
grateful to him, he will increase you in that and Imam, as Shaki
explains that he didn't say, if you're grateful for your health,
he's going to increase you in your health. If you're grateful for
your wealth, he's going to increase you with your wealth. He
left it open because what you are going through is different from
what you are going through, and what you need is different from
what you need. So Allah knows you. He leaves it open so that when
you're grateful to him, he will give you as what you need. Rub is
not just Lord, which is frequently translated as Lord. It's a
nourisher. It's someone who cares for you. It's someone who loves
you and who constantly sustains you. So when you are going through
difficulty and you don't know where to turn to you. You say,
Rob, and you remember that this is the one who is there for you, like
he says
in the Mac I am with you, that in a come to Mola, I am with you when
you establish prayer, even excuse me, even to you, he explains, what
does any medical mean? I am with you. What does it mean? It means
he's with you with his aid and with his protection. So when you
are going through something, and people tell you, the reason you're
going through hardship is because you don't read enough. Quran, my
friend got into a car accident. Her mom's reaction was, if you
were in a Quran, it wouldn't have happened.
How many of you have heard the message that the reason you're
going through hardship is because you're not pious enough? If only
you were more spiritual, then you wouldn't have these issues. Why
are you going through depression? If you pray, then they'll get
better. All your problems will go away. Have you heard those
messages before.
He's a prophet of God. You cannot get more pious than the prophet of
God. Yeah, the father of you Safari, he loses his son because
of the manipulation of his other children, and he didn't cry over
it for a day. Can't cry over for a month. He didn't feel like, okay,
I've been a year. I should have real law and I shouldn't cry. And
this is showing not Allah is displeased. This is a prophet of
God who knows God more than anyone. And he cried for decades.
He was sad for decades to lose his son. So when you are still
grieving over the fact that you lost your child, if you're still
grieving over the fact that you're struggling with your relationship
with your parents, if you're grieving because you've been
trying to get married for so long and you're dealing with the
pressure of your family and your community, and you don't know
where to turn to take that grief.
And go to Salah. This is the place that you can go into sujood and
pour your help her up to him, yeah,
school, Beth, be wahozni in Allah. I only complain my sadness to
Allah, and he knows what you don't know, what a little bit Allah,
excuse me, I know from Allah, what you don't know we don't know what
our futures hold. So law doesn't mean that our problems go away.
It's so important to seek professional help and to seek
therapy and to seek support. But in addition to that, so lot is a
safe space for us to go to when we feel like no one understands. And
it doesn't mean that things are going to become perfect, it just
means that we have a lifeline when we feel like nobody else is there
for us. Salah is a gift and a lifeline, and this is an
opportunity for us to give love for Allah. Salah is a means of
loving Allah. There was a companion of the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Every single rakat that he would eat
Salah in he would recite Surah Al Hu Allahu Ahad, in addition to
another one and the other companions complained, they're
like, Why do you always reject the surah? The Prophet salallahu, alas
about this, and he said that it describes the Most Merciful. And I
love the description of the Most Merciful. How many of you recite
sor till iphwas In every single rakat?
I'm sure all the rest of your sites,
we recite swords a lot of times because it's just fast. But
imagine if you made the intention I'm reciting the surah because I
want to love a Rahman. Make that intention. Keep doing your head in
your Salah, but make the intention that I'm doing this for the sake
of coming closer to Allah. The Prophet sallallahu, alayhi wa
sallam told us, he taught us that the love this man had for so IQ
will be what enters him into Jannah, and that could be me and
you. Islam is so relevant to us, and Allah wants to connect to us.
It doesn't have to be crazy difficult what you're already
doing, just reframe it that Allah appreciates the small that we do,
and that includes something so small, like reframing why we
recite steward so if lost in every Baka.
So the first part, Allah tells us establishing prayer. The second
part, he says that they give what Allah has
provided. For them secretly and in public. Now ibn Abd says this
talks about people who give zakat. So if you give zakat, you're
already counted. In this verse
explains that if you provide for your family, if you give your
spouse, your parents. If you take care of your family, you're
counted amongst this verse. If you take if you get to the needy, you
ask, you are counted amongst this verse right now we're doing
an unabashed plug. I don't know how to say that word anyway, right
now, we're doing a campaign for the East African crisis, for the
some or brothers in Somalia who are so resilient, if you just give
$1 to them, Inshallah, that could be you go on to launch dinner on
my Facebook page. That's what you can donate. So this is an
opportunity for us to give up. What if you don't have money? The
Prophet sallallahu, Sallam taught us that charity is what
extinguishes the fire, like water, extinguish, expire. What on the
Day of Judgment? It's a shade for the believer, if you don't have
though, this is what you can do. The Prophet salallahu Sallam
taught us that every good we do can be a means of charity. When
you rush to someone who is asking for aid and they're in sorrow, and
you uplift them from their sadness, the Prophet sallallahu
sallam said that that's a means of charity. When you speak to a deaf
person, when you guide a blind person, those are means of
charity. And I want to clarify that that doesn't mean that if
you're deaf or if you're blind, you're a charity case. What it
means is the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam is encouraging
our community to include every single type of person in the
community. You know, one of them evidence of the Prophet
sallallahu, alayhi wa sallam was a blind man. Abdullah ibn me was a
blind man. People with varied abilities didn't just appear in
the community. They were not just integrated. They were integral for
the for the for the working of that community. So in our
communities, how can we create spaces where our brothers and
sisters, who have varied abilities, feel like they don't
just belong, but they are a part of making this community work?
That is an act of charity. There was a sister.
That I know who studied in a different country, and there were
a lot of people there who didn't have money. They would beg. She
didn't have a lot of money. So instead of giving them money,
which she would do is start talking to them. And she made the
attention that that was charity for her. She would talk to them
and ask what their names are, play with their kids, and she realized
that they would always make a dog for her because they used, she
used to take the time to notice them. Instead of walking past
them. Every time she needed something, she would go to them
and she would say, can you make dua for me for this thing? And she
realized that every single time she asked them to make dua for
her, that dua became answered. ABN says that you might be asleep, but
the doors of heaven are being knocked upon by people who are
sending their prayers up for you and needy person you've helped, a
sad person that you've made happy, these people might be praying for
you while you're asleep and not doing anything. So never
underestimate any good
that you might do well yet,
the last part is a lot of different understandings of what
this verse might mean. A general translation could be, Repel evil
with good. But ima, he explains what this means is that you follow
up sins and making mistakes with repentance. I've been asked so
many times in Ramadan
that people, you me, we've made mistakes in Ramadan, in Ramadan
when the shayo Clean are supposed to be locked up. So what does that
mean about me and you Does that mean we're that bad? Are we even
worse than we thought? We still committed sins in Ramadan. You
know what Allah is interested in? Allah looks at we all make
mistakes. Every single child of Adam is going to be is someone who
commits sins over and over, makes mistakes over and over, as the
Prophet SAW taught us, but the best of them is the one who goes
back to him. So it doesn't, don't look at what you did in the past
to define you. Look at what you're going to do right now and
tomorrow, after it's done, when we're feeling guilty about things
we've done in the past, take that moment to go up to Allah with your
hands, ask him for your for forgiveness, and then follow it up
with good deeds. And he promises you that if you go back to Him, He
will forgive you. Allah, give us so many small things that we could
do to be forgiven easily. So for example, if you walk into the
mall, or you walk into a grocery store and you say,
Allah,
will have you. Them. You eat when you meet.
All of that. Why is this one? Because you get a million good
deeds when you say it and a million rapes raised when you say
it. So when you commit a sin, walk into the bowl and make them draw.
There's no way your deeds are not raised. Your rates are not raised
when you eat something and you make a dua after. It's a specific
dua for after you eat. If you Google these dua for after eat
after entering the mall, if you memorize them and say them commit
a sin, eat something and make the DUA, and inshaAllah will be a
means of forgiveness. Allah wants us to come back to him, and for
things to be easy for us to come back to him, we don't need to look
at our relationship with Allah as something that's enormous that we
can't build. I want you to remember that there might be
people who make you feel like you're not worthy of being a
Muslim, that make you feel guilty about being a Muslim, that make
you feel like your space is not the message I want you to
remember, that they are not Allah and the only one with whom you can
have that relationship with, who will open those doors for you, the
only one who will appreciate that one club that ever gave
me, but one who will Appreciate that, even when it's not
acknowledged by the rest of the audience. Who is that one that is
a Shakur? He is grateful for the moments that you spend not in
Salah because you're taking care of your kids diaper. He is
grateful for the moments that you spend not in Quran because you're
responding to your mom's text message. He is grateful for the
things that you don't. You don't. People don't see about you. So
don't judge yourself based on the way that people see you. Work on
your relationship with Allah in salah, in giving and in following
up mistakes with goodness and Inshallah, with those. We will be
of those the
end of the ayah, those are the people who are a general
translation of a Jannah. Those are the people you inshaAllah. Are the
people of paradise, those people Inshallah, who will be with their
loved ones as the next verse explains being people of Jan.
Anna doesn't have to be out of our reach. Very simple. Do the
obligation, and with those inshallah will draw nearer to him
and inshallah because of that, even if it doesn't seem like a lot
to other people with the right intention, Inshallah, it'll be a
means of raising our wings. We have the rest of Ramadan inshallah
to be forgiven. Join me and sing a quick drop. Allahumma, Allah,
forgive our brothers and sisters, the believers who have passed
away, the believers have passed away,
and those who are living,
every time you ask for forgiveness, for a believer who's
living, who's passed away, you are you are forgiven. You are given a
reward for every single one of those people. There is no way
you're leaving this room with a less status to Allah than when you
entered it. Inshallah, when you're leaving this room, shalo How many
believers have been since the beginning of time? Inshallah, our
ranks will be raised through the small actions Inshallah, and may
also make those small, consistent actions and means of entering me
and you, it's paradise.
Oh.