Stationed by the Divine

You know, especially in our part of the world, we take great pride in the achievements we've made, the status we enjoy the the rank that we've climbed.

And yet still, for the believer, especially in whomever Allah has granted the gift of faith for every living heart, as gratifying as it is to accomplish and achieve and gain status and otherwise, it can only take you so far, the living heart still itches and yearns

to know that it has a certain status with its maker

to know and not be satisfied to have this praise worthy to be honest anxiousness, and a degree of insecurity about is Allah pleased with me or not? At the end of the day, how do I rank in his eyes? Does he loved me or not?

And is there a way to actually measure this? Does Islam provide us with one? Well, first of all, Islam tells us that the many people out there

who think that God giving them necessitates automatically that God loves them, these people are measuring wrong.

Just because Allah gives you what you want. And response your supplication your DUA does not necessarily mean you enjoy a certain praiseworthy rank with Allah azza wa jal. Allah may give you

because He is just and he wants to give you now because you don't deserve it later. Right? Allah who may give you in the most extreme case to silence you even he doesn't want to hear your voice. At the end of the day, Allah has given the most despicable of his creation shaitan a response to his dua Okay, fine, you can live until the Day of Judgment, it does not necessitate definitely does not mean in this case that Allah loves JSON.

And the Quran and the Sunnah also guide us to the fact that Allah not giving you Allah withholding from you doesn't necessarily mean that he loves you because some people also have this misconception. Some people believe in the prosperity doctrine that if God gives me prosperity, he must love me, I must rank well with him. And other people believe, you know I misunderstood version of when God loves you, he puts you through difficulty. So unless I'm miserable, God doesn't love me. If God loves me, life's going to be a train wreck. That's not necessarily true. That's not necessarily correct.

Because some people may Allah forbid, their life is a train wreck in this world, and a bigger train wreck in the next as Allah subhanho wa Taala said, Well, no the apana hoomin and other bill Adena doing either Bill AccuAir Allah Allah homology Arun, and we will certainly cause some of them to taste the torment in this world, the lesser torment before the greater torment, the torment of the Hereafter, so that hopefully, they may come back, they may wake up, be checked by this and return to form.

And so Allah giving you doesn't necessitate that he's pleased with your loves you and Allah Who withholding from you does not necessitate doesn't make it a guarantee that He is pleased with you and loves you.

And Allah gathered all of this in that passage and solfeggio when he said for 1,000,007, or even maybe tele or a bonus for the human being on his Lord tests him It all boils down ultimately to a test in this life when his Lord tests him for a chroma who want to hammer home and so in that test, it comes by way of him being generous with him and lavishing him fire poodle rugby acraman And then the human being says, My Lord has honored me, I enjoy an honorable rank when I met you that maybe Taylor who and then when he tests him, for further Allah here is who by way of limiting his provisions for polo rugby at hand and my Lord has disgraced me. He says, I have a disgraceful rank

with Allah. The next verse comes and shatters that color, absolutely not. This is not the way you measure. So then how do you measure? What is the more accurate metric?

The Golden principle our scholars gave and of course glean from the ayat of the Quran and the authentic sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam the best way to assess to estimate they said either Arata and Dara referring the Allah Hema, karmic funds or FEMA of karmic, if you want to know your rank with Allah, your station with Allah, then check where is it that Allah has stationed you? If you want to know your station with Allah, then check where is it that Allah has station

Do subhanho wa Taala because the more he busies you with good, the higher the likelihood that he loves you, and He is pleased with you, and he wishes to resurrect you in that state celebrate you in front of his creation. Because what you're busied with mostly has the highest likelihood of you exiting this world doing right or wrong, while you buy through Kulu, Aberdeen alma mater ally, the authentic hadith says every servant will be resurrected in the state in which they died. And so when he's visiting you with good, this higher is the likelihood that he wants to seal your life on the best note and resurrect you in a way to truly distinguish you to give you a lofty station in front

of them all in the Hereafter.

And the other Hadith, also authentic. He said, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam very clearly either a hyperbola hula Abda, a seller who when Allah loves the servant, he sweetens him, they said, What does that mean? Rasul Allah what is it mean sweetens him? He said, You are fickle, who Leanna Insightly when you have to build to who LA.

He inspires him guides him to righteous actions upon which he pulls his soul. And so if you wish to know your rank with Allah, your station with Allah, ask yourself where has Allah stations me. So for right now, in this moment, for instance, you find yourself at DuBois. Allah has stations you hear, when so many people are not here, that is a good sign, hold on to it, don't take it for granted, build on it.

If you find yourself showing up at your five prayers on time, when many people don't, many people are busy with their comfort or their sleep or their greed or otherwise, if he has stationed you, you're showing up at your prayers, he's puts you there, that is a good sign hold on to it. Don't take it for granted. Don't underestimate it. If you are of those that are aware of the rank of your parents or the virtue of your parents, the duty owed by to our parents, when many people think that they are too big, too busy to whatever and they neglect neglect that if you are busy with that if your Allah has you stationed there, it's a good indication

and on the flip side as well. On the flip side, if you find yourself just wasting your time online, that's where your station right? Unproductive for your day. Then that do it too is a sign. So be careful. As it has settled bossy Rahim Allah He used to say in them in Iran, DECA are all the anger are all dukkha and who one of the signs that Allah has turned away from you is that you turn away from him you're not concerned with pleasing Him serving Him.

And even worse, if you're stationed in a place where Allah told you not to be if you find yourself somewhere where he has prohibited of you to be, then that too is a sign so be careful. And Hasson also said, Han who Allah Allah He thought also who, while I was zoo Ali, he laughs on the home.

It's a very daunting thought to be honest. He says they meant nothing to Allah, meaning at that moment, they meant nothing to Allah, and that is why they disobeyed him. Had they been more valuable to Allah, He would have protected them. He would have protected them from winding up there in that station, where they found it.

No big deal to disobey Him.

A whole Holly has stuff for law alimony work.

Al hamdu Lillahi wa salatu salam ala Milena Viva Chateau La ilaha illallah wa ala Sharika or shadow anna Muhammad and I will do who whenever you are a solo

there is a dua in the Quran that most of us are familiar with and I wish to stop at the final phrase in it for a moment. We're in hola Tabata aka what Allah taught us to say and suitable for con Rebecca blend I mean, as well Gina with Rihanna, Tina Kurata. Are you Oh Allah,

allow for our spouses and our offspring to be the joy of our eyes a pleasure to look at pleasure to think about, but then he says, What Jalna Lynmouth Sakina Imam and make us leaders for the pious, you know, it begs a certain question that if we're all supposed to say, make us leaders for the pious,

then who's the followers for all leaders, and who's going to be following?

And this is why our scholars said this dua reminds us that

We all have a capacity, we all have a potential to reach a certain station of leadership.

With Allah azza wa jal. You see, being leaders for the pious doesn't just mean, you know, Imam capacity in salah or in a scholarship capacity wherein you're the preacher in the teacher and the educator, leading meaning contributing in any respect in every respect. Leaders on the charity front leaders helping those with special needs, leaders leading the way in a charge in an effort because you have access that other people don't have access to, you will be leading the way because no one else can. And on that final one in particular,

this was probably my my greatest realization. In our last community trip as many of you know, in the winter Alhamdulillah our community has made it an annual habit to use that break time to go in to visit Mecca and Medina. And this year, we added in sha Allah every year we will continue this a trip to an exile Mr. de la casa, may Allah allow for you all a trip there soon.

But when, when we visited Jerusalem when he visited eliquids, you know, it's not just like, you know, a pleasant place. As one poet said, he said if Medina is beauty and

and Mecca is our than Jerusalem is home, Drew, there's something just different about the charm of arts. And this isn't also not a subjective analysis, something I'm saying I believe, you know, I felt so at home, this is the third greatest message on the face of the earth, the second message ever built for humanity on this planet. When when I spent those three, four days there with our community members, I realized both from the Muslims and the non Muslims how important it is for us, as Muslim Americans in particular,

to frequent there. As for the non Muslims, it was the occupying regime. They could not keep us out because of the diplomatic relations between the US and between Israel. And so you can't reject the blue passport. And so what were they doing? They were making sure or so they think that we will voluntarily no longer come back. Religious profiling at its finest people with quote unquote, much weaker passports are flying through passport control in the airports and every Muslim, black, white, young, old Arab, not the common denominator in the long line. The stepaside line was that we were Muslims.

They just have you know, interrogations, no hostility, by the way, nothing at all, because I'm telling you to go. I'm not trying to scare you out of going. But just wait here for 34567 10 hours, we were all at hamdulillah out with about three, four hours. And some people, especially the Palestinian Americans, they will stay much longer sometime.

So I realized how much we need to be there. Because if it didn't make a difference, us being there, they wouldn't haggle us so much about being there. They want us to forget, there's something called MST Roxa they want you to forget eliquids

men you know and all this is just first day by the way, I just snapshots for the sake of the time I get when we got to Jerusalem, I couldn't quiet my my desire to go to an AXA before I even went into my hotel room, I walked straight out, I will cross the street into the old city. There's an old ancient city surrounding Mr. That officer that you can't get into, except on foot. And I get there and I'm going through the streets and otherwise. And I finally reached a dead end after getting lost a bunch of times. And then a little kid circles back to me on his bike. And he says to me, what are you looking for? So I'm looking for Mr. That officer. He said, This is

the big green gates. They were locked for the night.

And I was heartbroken. I was like, Oh, I just missed it because they lock after a shot.

And so he starts telling me where are you from? Sound from America. So Oh, you're from America. You'd think he'd asked me for money? None of them did really? You'd think that they asked me to help them get a visa to escape this, you know, siege that they're under. He said why don't you come live with us?

The only people that feel

vulnerable in their own neighborhoods, people that feel like foreigners in their own homes. come live with me. I said but where would you put me where would I live with you? He said I'll build you a shed on my roof.

So I gave him a long hug and I wasn't sure if he was consoling me or I was consoling him. We were just lost in emotion for a bit. But that was the consistent theme over and over again. We visited one man to support his restaurant in its old city little cafe tiny place. You can't even walk double file one at a time have to walk into the cafe to get to the little opening where you can sit down for food they offer

had him 20 million then 30 million, then $40 million to lock up shop and just leave.

And he refused. And he said to us, I was born in goods, and I am a caretaker of this place. I want you to go tell the Americans, the American Muslims, you people that Allah stationed over there, you people have the blue passports. Palestinians five kilometers away aren't allowed to come here. I want you to imagine this. Right? Palestinians five, six kilometers away could get shot if they come in. If they sneak in if they tried to barge their way in, let alone the rest of the Muslim world. And Mr. de la casa is not my cat. It's not Medina, the event happens people are filling the masjid and overflow into the courtyard and praying in the streets. And no, no, no, the Masjid is not full

in the prayers, because no one's allowed to go but you are. And we always talk about if only we had the opportunity to do this or the opportunity to do that Allah has granted you Muslim Americans with the little blue passport and opportunity. He has stations you in a place to be a leader for people not to forget and Mr. lochsa. And so my requests to you advocacy, wherever you can, my request to you is to put a visit to a Mr. de la casa on top of your bucket list of vacations above everything else, to carve love of it in the hearts of your children. That man who was offered 40 million he still refused that I was born AXA and I'm going to die the lochsa and I want you to go tell the

American Muslims that we don't serve them. We don't just serve their feet. He said we serve the ground under over which they walk the visitors of this place because this is their message. This is the whole owners message. And everybody has forgotten it.

He said after I refused the 40 million they doubled my taxes. And after they doubled my taxes. The reason was we want to buy food from him. They forbid me now it may mean they prohibit me from cooking in my own restaurant. Can you come tonight, I'll cook at home and I'll feed you in the evening I'll bring the food over. And this is one of many, many, many, many stories. And so it means the world to them in terms of moral support for you just to be there. Aside from our duty to the masjid to begin with, aside from the fact that the resistance we felt trying to get into that Masjid was proof enough proof enough that Allah azza wa jal has stationed us as one of the only people left

to keep memory to keep the spirit of adminstered oxide alive. May you heed these words may Allah subhanho wa Taala write for us many trips to the blessing lands, may Allah remove oppression from its people. May Allah subhanho wa Taala liberate its people from the siege under which they live. May Allah Tabata kehlata Allah station us in the highest ranks in this world and the next allow us to embrace our fullest potential and actualize it as leaders for the pious in whatever little capacity he has granted us Allahumma Amin Allahu mokwena Muslim non Muslim out when what we need now and what may not Allah here in minimum order having some words of ALLAH forgive the believing men

and women and have mercy on them all the living of the and those that have died and I wish to mention in particular Oh Allah have mercy on the father of our sister community members sister I'ma the father in law of our brothers articleship has just passed away a few hours ago and also our brother great brother Southcott from helping hands who has been left lifelong Islamic worker many of you know him. He has been inspiration for generations actually just passed away this morning as well. May Allah bless them on this blessed day and have mercy on them on this day when do I is accepted and allow for us to intercede for them with these moments of prayer of ours. Allahumma

Alameen wa salam ala whosoever baraka and Ebina Muhammad Ali Ali was ivh marine