Maryam Amir – HUGS in hardship, and in your path to God and women the masjid
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AI: Transcript ©
The beginning of the world is saying,
in the very beginning, what does she do? She has patience, seeking
the pleasure of a higher power, ancient hugs. Is seeking Allah,
being patient in what you're going through, and being patient on
doing what's the right thing, even if you don't want to do it. The
Prophet sallallahu Sallam mentioned that
the Mujahid is
the struggler, the warrior. The warrior is the one. The spiritual
warrior is the one who they strive against their own selves to do the
right thing for the sake of Allah. And Ibn hajab, who is a great
scholar of the authentic narrations of guhadi, mentions
that this means that when you do something, even though you don't
want to do it, or when you don't do something, even though you
really want to do it, and the absolute only reason is because of
the sake of God. And you feel like an hypocrite, because every single
time you wake up and you pray so little Fajr and you hate it, but
the only reason you do it because of Allah, or every single time you
are hijab, and you hate it, but you do it for the sake of Allah,
whatever the issue is that you struggle with internally in your
heart, and you feel like there's a hypocrite for it. That's not
hypocrisy
that makes you a spiritual warrior. This is
Sabah Abu,
the second part of this verse, The you is Abu Salam, alas, and that's
establishing prayer upon you. You really tried with that, but it's
establishing prayer. Thank you for that one laugh. It's establishing
prayer.
The Prophet sallallahu, alayhi wa sallam.
He lost his best friend, his wife, Khadijah, and his father figure,
Uncle Bucha, at the same time within within a very short time
period. And then he went to seek support from the city of and this
is after years of persecution, years of losing loved ones, years
of people being harmed because of his message, even if they didn't
believe in him, he goes to pot. If so, the Lord names them, looking
for them just to support, just for support, not even to believe in
His message to support. And they chased him out, throwing stones at
him so much that his feet were just pulling blood
when this happened, the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam was
then taken up Islam Raj. He was taken up to Allah, and he was
given the gift of Salah. Salah was intended to be a gift for us in
the hardest times of our lives, people often tell us, you're going
through depression because you don't read enough forever. If you
truly had faith, you
wouldn't be feeling so sad. If you only prayed at night, you wouldn't
be cutting yourself.
If you only did this one religious deed, you would have never
attempted suicide.
We hear those messages, Salah is a lifeline. Salah was meant to be a
gift to give you support and to give you reprieve, but it also
needs to be merged with counseling, with professional
help, with therapy, with a support system. Salah is your lifeline to
God, and God tells us
to also seek support with your community, with people who can
support you.
And that is exceptionally hard when it comes to Salah and being a
woman, sometimes, because sometimes the messages that we are
given in policy is that as a woman, we are not as welcome or
are not as supported to pray in the masjid. Have you ever felt
this way before that it would not be better for you to go to the
masjid, it would be better for you to pray in your home. And that is
a beautiful message, and that's definitely opinions that many of
our scholars share based on a few Ahadith, but at the same time,
scholars of those few Ahadith explain them
to mention that those few that talk about a woman being better in
Salah
have circumstances and context.
That would not necessarily intend to be for all women until the end
of time. The best women of our Ummah were the companions of the
Prophet so Allah, and yet the females will have yet consistently
prayed in the masjid. If these were the women who are going to do
the best action, wouldn't it make sense that the best action would
be for them to pray in their home, yet they continually pray in the
mission of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. And the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam would hear a baby crying, and we know
this, and the Prophet sallallahu Sallam would shorten her prayer
just so that a mother would feel comfortable. But did you recognize
that in that space, the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam not
only made the prayer shorter to make it easy for the mother that
one time, but to establish a policy that woman mothers, it's
more important for you to be in the masjid. It's more important
for you to feel comforted and safe and protected in the masjid with
your child, than to have the reward of the super long Salah
that the Prophet sallallahu would have done had he not heard that
crying. He wanted to create a space where women mothers and not
mothers, knew that the mission was their place, and that's why the
Prophet sallallahu, alayhi wa sallam told us, do not prohibit
the female servants of Allah from going to the houses of Allah.
We have the narration of sahih al buchadi that mentions a wife of
the Prophet, sallAllahu, alayhi wa sallam.
And I'm just going to gloss over this, because there might be
younger people, and I don't want to have you have a conversation
that you're not ready to have with someone in the family. But
something was happening with her that isn't the thing that prevents
you from salah, but something like that that was maybe confusing. The
point is that she used to have a tray underneath her when she would
pray,
and there was no separate woman section. And so that means that
this was a public space in which people knew something that she was
struggling with, and yet she still prayed in the mischief she was
still making an icy cat with the Prophet sallallahu,
Abu Harim, Abu Shak Abdul Halim Abu Shukla, who wrote a book
talking about a number of different women's issues,
mentioned something interesting, that if it's better for a woman to
pray in her home,
and it's better for her to pray in the innermost part of her home.
Aren't you normally living with your Maha in your home, right men
who are blood related to you? So why can't you just pray in your
living room? Why does it have to be the innermost part of the home
and also the houses? Then we're not the houses we have today. So
where exactly is the innermost part?
So if it was better for all women to do this and not this particular
circumstance or these few contexts, then what about the fact
that the best form of huge worship for women is to me hajj, or that
the best way in which a woman can
continually do this type of huge deed is going to the house of
Allah. Why was that encouraged? Why were a woman on the
battlefield of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam? Why
were there nurses who intend to wounded in the battlefield of the
Prophet sallallahu, salaam? If this was the issue,
then maybe we can have a conversation about whether or not
women should be a home for Salah outside of the fact that it might
be because Adnan Mahara might see her because the context doesn't
completely make sense. Now I am not trying to say that this is a
wrong opinion by any means. Great scholars through history have held
that this is the best form of worship,
and I should adilo juanja is often quoted to say that if the Prophet
sallallahu, sallam, saw the woman in her time, that he would have
prevented them from going to the masjid. Have you heard that
before? And it's used to say that women should have prayed the
Masjid. But if in Hajr says in his time, which is after I shall
Illah, that if she had seen women in their time, she would have said
that the prophets and Allah would have, would have said, and now
this is her time. Imagine our time. Imagine our time when we
have access to hospitals and to malls and to movie theaters, to
school, but we're sitting and becoming professors, and we're
being being involved in all of these different spaces, but yet in
the mission, we don't feel like we belong, that I shall Allah
wouldn't have said
that if the prophet saw them had seen he would have prohibited she
would have said if the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam had
seen Abu Habib. Shokah mentions this, if the Prophet salallahu
alayhi wa sallam had seen this,
then he wouldn't have said, don't prohibit that. He would have said,
it's an obligation for a woman to go to the masjid, because the
masjid is our space to connect to Allah. We need the masjid to
connect to Allah. I am so blessed to be a mother of two very young
children.
It's very hard for me to go to the masjid. It's very hard for me to
pray without knowing that we're going to be running out of the
doors. And I'm so grateful that Allah Inshallah, bless me for my
prayer in my salah in my home, just like you will bless my sister
who doesn't have that type of obligation, who can go for Salah
in the mission without being able to feel guilty about it, because I
used to feel guilty, like it's not good for me to be here.
But this is the house of Allah
and some of the greatest female companions, like the wife of Ibn
Mr. Ayud, who was a great scholar, Zainab radila, like uma dabdaal of
Martha, they used to constantly frequent the masjid Well, Allah
swallow
and when we pray, sometimes we often recite the same verses. And
I know that you're all reciting the circle. Nahida, every single
Bucha,
others are the circle. That was you. It's all your circle, for
sure.
Most of us Kali, recite circle is lost. But there's a companion of
the Prophet sallallahu, alayhi. He was someone who used to rec used
to recite qu Allahu Ahad in every single rat, in addition to a
different surah. And the companions were frustrated, and
they were like, Why does he do this? Every time that we ask the
Prophet saw them when the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
questioned him, he said that it's a description of the Most
Merciful, and I love the description of the Most Merciful.
The Prophet sallallahu Sallam gave the glad tidings of Jannah for
this person. If we recite Suratul ikhlas, olu Allahu, bahad in every
single Raqqa, let it be, because we love the description of the
Most Merciful. Make that intention when you go into Salah and then in
July, even if you're in your comfort zone and you're reciting
the same Surah every time your intention transforms, what you're
doing inshaAllah will be the people who meet this companion
because of that dedication. Circle is closed. Allah, the
third point in hug is giving. Will Abu Asmaa Nahum, and they give
from what Allah has provided for them, secretly and in public, if
in Abu Asmaa Quran, from the Prophet saw them as companions,
mentions that this is giving as a cat. So if you give zakat, you're
counting amongst these people. Other scholars mention that this
is just giving, providing for your family, giving to your kids,
giving to someone who asks, and what if you don't even have money
for that. Then the Prophet said, Allah taught us that charity can
be an action. He mentioned, for example, guiding a blind person
and helping a deaf person. And I don't want you to think that our
religion looks at people, looks at believers, looks at individuals
with disabilities or special needs as charity cases. The Prophet SAW
has famous. Who knows his name,
Bilal rodi Allahu Anhu. But he also had a second one. What was
his name?
Abdullah ibn Abu. He was a blind man. And the Prophet sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam had
him give the Adnan to the salah. He made him SallAllahu, alas, the
face of the Muslims. When someone would come in and they don't know
anything about the Muslim community, they're going to see
that a blind man is giving salah, excuse me, is giving the Idan.
When the Prophet sallallahu wa sallam left the city on two
occasions, he made Abdullah ibn umaktung in charge of the city.
Abdullah ibn umaktung At the end of his life, he died because he
was the flag bearer of the Muslims in a battle blind, holding the
flag, and this is how he was murdered. And it's important to
recognize that this wasn't just one companion with a disability,
and the Companions rule the Alabama, we had companions who
were struggling with different types of disabilities. Nusaba
rule, the Olafur, who was the female warrior, who we frequently
quote as defending the Prophet's voice on fantasy and OCHA and in
other battles. In another battle, her arm was cut off and she lost
part of her function. She became someone with a disability, and she
had to learn how to process that in her life, there was a companion
with epilepsy. There was another companion who was known to have
dwarfism. Do they meet Robin? Now, whether or not somebody who has
epilepsy or someone who is struggling with dwarfism, and I
don't mean to use the word struggling, but identifies with
that, there's a discussion whether or not that counts as a special
ability. Forgive me, I am not. I'm not trying to put language within
that community. We need to hear from that community what they
would like to identify us. I'm just trying to explain that
sometimes here in our Ummah, we don't see Muslims who have a
disability on stage giving lectures, being a part of the
Muslim space, the Masjid board being a moderator, and maybe they
don't want to do that. It's bad. Even Malik was a companion who was
blind, and he asked the Prophet sallallahu, someone to establish
prayer in his home so that he could pray for him as a masjid,
because it was too hard for him to pray that the messenger of the
Prophet's place with that not every person who's struggling with
it, a parent or a hidden.
And disability is going to want to be in the limelight, but there are
many who do, and there are many who don't. Just like all of us, we
have different we have different talents in our community. The
Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa salam showed us that however you are,
you have a space here. This is your community. This is the space
that you not only belong but that you're critical for many of you
might be mother who has a child with a special ability or a
disability, Allah chose you for a reason. May Allah bless you and
raise your *. The point is that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa
salam created this space in this community, an act of charity.
Inshallah that will be continuous for us is creating these spaces
that we're typically able so that Inshallah, however we are as
Muslims, whether we're struggling internally with our own self or
whether we're struggling externally, that this is the space
for us.
And I have a I have a friend who, when she was studying in Egypt,
there are a number of people who are in severe economic
circumstances in Egypt and everywhere and and they these
mothers, but their kids used to pick her all the time to give
money, and she didn't have money to give every day. So she asked
them what their names are. She started playing with their kids,
they stopped asking her for anything, and they started saying,
ask us what you mean, and we will pray for you. She said, anytime
she needed something, she would ask them to make that dua. And
every single time that dua came true, Ibn Al qayyim Rahima hula, a
great scholar of our past, said that you might be asleep and the
doors are heaven are being knocked upon by 10s of people who you did
something for, who you gave charity to, who you made smile. So
don't ever, ever belittle any small act that you do.
The last part of this word verse is following up the bad with good
when we make mistakes and we all do
the past doesn't define us.
Success. The s in hugs looks like what we're going to do next. It
looks like what our future is going to be. It looks like what we
choose to do after.
This is why we have so many narrations of the Prophet,
sallAllahu, alayhi, salam, so many verses in the Quran that talk
about when we make a mistake and we follow it up with sincere
repentance, asking Allah to forgive us, that He forgives us.
And the circle for God, Allah says that he replaces the bad deed that
we did with a good one, that he transforms it into a good deed you
can never lose with a Rahman, a Rahim, the source of LA, dude, of
love. He wants you to succeed in this life and in the next. And
that's why, Inshallah, by going out of our comfort zone when we're
going through whatever we're going through, seeking his face and
being patient with it, establishing prayer, giving,
whether it's in money or action, and constantly looking to be
successful by following up our mistakes with good. And Shah will
be of those people,
those people who Insha Allah, will be of Paradise. Allah tells us
that in those moments when passing away, that the angels come and
they say,
those
people who said that we believe that God is our Lord and their
firm on them, that the angels come and give them great, great
tidings. Don't be scared and don't be sad and be excited about the
muse of paradise.
Abu Bakr Al dilaho. Abu asked some of the people, what do you think
this verse means? And they said, oh, people who don't commit sin.
And he said, you've given it a meaning that it doesn't have.
These are the people who affirm that God is their Lord, and
they're strong on the belief that Allah is their Lord. That's
Inshallah, every single one of us, whatever we're struggling with,
the fact that we believe in God and affirm on that, and sha Allah
will be in these people, sarayan and Juba mentioned that a person
will come into Paradise, and they will look around, and they will
say, My Lord, where is my grandpa,
my lord, where's my dad, my lord, where's my wife, my Lord, where
are my kids? And it will be said to them, they didn't work like you
used to work. That's why you're here. They're not.
Here because you used to work. And then he says, I was working for
myself, but I was also working for them.
And because of Allah's love for you, He will bring those people
who believe, regardless of what they were struggling with, whether
or not through their actions, none of us deserve it, all of Allah's
mercy, He will bring that person's loved ones to them in paradise.
And then he mentioned the ayah
Allah.
Begin,
you said the
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the angels constantly go around the Throne of Allah, and they're
making dua for you, Oh Allah, forgive them. Protect them from
the hellfire. They keep making dua after that to enter you and your
loved ones into paradise. He recited that verse, Who
are Allahu? You said, Bihar.
It's not the person who is praying every single minute and fasting
every single time doesn't make mistakes. Those would be the
most someone who believes, but their actions do not yet reflect a
complete, completely that belief. They believe, but their actions
are struggling. That's who Allah ordered the angels to make dua for
every single second, it's you and me
when we establish this concept of hugs, which is higher power, no
matter what we're going through, seeking Him, you, establishing
prayer,
G, giving s, being successful and following up our mistakes with
good and sha Allah. We pray that we all together will be of those
people who are given that blessing.
The best part of hugs is that it's something you can actually do. I'd
like to take you to take a second, give yourself a hug.
Right now. It's a good time right about now. It's good
and if you're comfortable, stand up
and hug at least three people around you. May Elizabeth have a
bless you gay people.
Oh,
goodness now to show her dad all the
hugs. Oh, is she done?