Maryam Amir – God Sees Your Struggle

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.