Mohammed Faqih – Friday Jummah 16-08-2024
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Muhammad
My dear brothers and sisters,
a very important topic that needs to be
discussed nowadays
is the topic
of resilience
and
anything that is related
to it.
What resilience
is and what it look should look like
in the life of a believer,
and how it can be built.
Resilience is the ability to endure hardships
and to recover from setbacks
and continue steadfastly
on the path
of righteousness
towards your
destination
and in spite of all these other, you
know, challenges and setbacks and issues that you
face in life.
And I like
what some people have have to say about
how it's important
not to
just
recover
and go back to the way you were,
but rather become even better.
And this is what Islam actually
aims to teach us
or to help us learn from the various
experiences. It's not about
being who you are or maintaining the status
quo. As a matter of fact, it's about
being better and making your situation and the
situation of those
whom you have any influence on better.
It's a chance for improvement.
Challenges,
setbacks,
even sometimes,
sins and mistakes
can be a chance for you to become
better
and to get closer to Allah
After Adam repented
from,
you know,
as what is known as the first sin
or the original sin.
After Adam alaihis salam repented, he became closer
to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Allah
brought him closer because he
now
was able to practice
tawba
and inaba. He returned he reverted. He returned
to Allah and
he made tawba.
This
in and of itself, this story teaches us
the importance of this
of being resolute.
So how can we
achieve this? And this is gonna be a
2 part journey, Insha'Allah.
Today, I would like to talk about the
importance of this
and how
we are so fortunate to be Muslims and
the recipients of this final message of Allah,
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, the Quran.
And the students and the followers
and the lovers
of this prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam,
who in his own example taught us
resilience.
It wasn't a coincidence that Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala chose for this message to be delivered
and carried
and exemplified
by a man whose life
was
shaped
by hardships and challenges from even before he
came to this world.
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam came into
this life
in a state of
in a state of being an orphan.
He was born as an orphan. To begin
with, he started
this journey of His sallallahu alaihi wasallam
as someone who is
who who has a disadvantage,
if you will.
He didn't have a father, but he had
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And then shortly after
or in his childhood, he suffered the loss
of his mother,
but he
had Allah
And then he was raised and cared for
by his grandfather who had many children and
many grandchildren, yet Allah
made that man who wasn't even a Muslim,
made him care for him and realize that
there was something special about him, and placed
the love of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam in the heart of Abdul Muttalib
so that he would give him a special
status and a special treatment, and he was
worthy sallallahu alaihi wa sallam of it.
It was Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's work.
Just like Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala made someone
worse.
Firaun,
care for
one of the greatest prophets,
Musa alaihi sallam.
Wal kaitu alaykum habbatimini. This is the work
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Yet the Prophet
salallahu alaihi wasallam still was at a disadvantage.
But he had Allah
with him.
And then his grandfather died
at the age
of 8 or 10.
But he had Allah
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala surrounded him with
people who fell in love with him. And
he was worthy, salallahu alaihi wa sallam, yet
it is the work of Allah a zawajal.
And then at a time when no one
was interested to
marry the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
one of the most powerful and most popular
women of Makkah,
and later we came to realize that she
was actually
the best woman
ever to live.
Some compare her to Maryam alayhi wasalam, Khadija
radiAllahu anha.
As if Allah Subha'aHu Wa Ta A'la preserved
Khadija for the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasalam when
it was the right time the 2 were
married.
And the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, Allah
a zawajal
put the love of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam in respecting him in her heart,
in spite of him being younger than than
her and having less resources than her
financially, yet she respected him and admired him,
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. And we're talking about
the prophet now at this point. He hasn't
even received a message. He wasn't a prophet
at this point.
And before that and after that he had
the admiration
of his uncle Abu Talib. So Allah
did all of that for him. And then
eventually when the prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam
received this message and accepted this mission
and took on this very very difficult
task,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
started bringing the hearts of the best of
people
and made them respond to his call sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam and accept this message.
So the best of the slaves
believed in him and followed him, and they
were willing to give up everything that they
had,
the likes of Khabab and Bilal radiAllahu anhu.
And the best of the youth
were willing to give up all of their
privileges
and whatever their parents were providing them with
to follow him and be with him, salallahu
alaihi wa sallam.
And some had to give up
the care and the unlimited resources of their
parents
like Mus'at
and others,
and they followed the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam.
And the best of
men
responded to his call sallallahu alaihi wasallam
and embraced his message.
The most wise of them, like Abu Bakr
and Uthman and Abdulrahman ibn A'ouf and the
others.
It was all the work of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala.
Allah surrounded him with all these people. Yes.
The prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam was charismatic.
Yes. The prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam was
kind.
And yes, the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam
was captivating,
yet Allah azza wa jal reminds him that
it was Allah azza wa jal that surrounded
him with the believers.
And brought their hearts together. And from his
example, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, the Sahaba
learned
resilience
from his example.
Now he didn't have to be tortured
like each and every single one of them
was tortured. The prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam was
not tortured like Bilal was tortured.
Yet Bilal was inspired by the example of
the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam.
Because the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam endured
for the sake of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala,
and he taught them
the beauty and the honor of enduring for
the sake of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And Allah ahsawajal reinforce that in the Qur'anic
message, whether it's in the Meccan period or
in the Madinan period.
So my dear brothers and sisters,
what I want you to walk out with
today
is 2 things,
that we have the source that should give
us the strength that we need as believers
and that is the Quran. And we have
the examples that should inspire us
to be
resilient and to be strong, and that is
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
And unless we take these two great
opportunities that we have and activate them and
bring them to life in our lives,
we won't whether individually or collectively, we won't
be able to
withstand the pressures
and the challenges of our time.
And if we fail, then Allah
has a sunnah, and that is to replace
us
and bring people who are stronger than us.
And we see this taking place right before
our eyes.
We see generations of young men and women
whom we thought will be lost and will
not be as strong as
their
ancestors were,
yet they're showing great level of strength. And
if you wonder where they're getting that strength
from,
ask
the resilient
men and women of Gaza where they get
their strength from and they will tell you
from the Quran and from the example of
prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
I say this and I ask Allah
to make you and I of those who
listen and follow the best of where they
listen to.
My dear brothers and sisters, Allah
gave an example for the believers in the
Quran.
The example of prophets and messengers
that
with them stood followers
who are godly,
who are fully devoted to Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala,
and they fought with them.
But their greatest
force
and source of strength
were not their physical abilities. Now they did
their best. They prepared as much as they
could,
but their strength
came from the fact that they did not
give up
nor did they allow themselves to be broken.
They were not broken
for what they had endured for the sake
of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
When they realize that whatever they're enduring, whatever
they're going through,
whatever they're suffering, whatever pain they're feeling is
for the sake of Allah azza wa jal,
and for the sake of this cause that
they wholeheartedly
believed in,
nothing was able to break them or defeat
them.
So even when they lost
in Uhud,
And even when they were injured,
and many of them, even when they were
dying,
their motto was fustu rabbil Kaaba.
I'm victorious by the Lord of the Kaaba.
Nothing can defeat someone with that kind of
a spirit.
They were not weakened for what happened to
them for the sake of Allah.
And they did not give up.
This is the example of the believers.
And the reason you and I
every now and then
someone comes and says,
you know, I feel defeated, I feel broken,
I am I'm giving up.
And when you look at what that person's
focus in life
or devotion is for,
you realize that it's really
for some of these worldly gains. We we
want we want Islam. We want to practice
Islam, and we want to be blessed, and
we want to receive our reward in this
life, and we want it to be very
comfortable.
And that has to change.
It has to be purely for the sake
of Allah. So whatever happens to us for
the sake of Allah, we should be able
to see the beauty in it.
As a matter of fact, we should see
that as a reward. I'll tell tell you
a story that really
inspired me. My brother, you know,
pointed out at someone
without mentioning, without revealing,
you know, his name, he said that he
said, you know, that brother himself doesn't actually
mind sharing the story himself.
Was partying,
in an area that that I used to
live in,
30 years ago. Was partying with a bunch
of his friends
when some of
the young and very,
very,
concerned
Shabab,
young guys, wanted to reach out to him
and invite him to the masjid. We have
we had an activity.
So they went, and one of them said,
let me go and knock on their door
or actually ring you know, you remember the
intercom?
He said, let me let me go and
and see if he if he's okay, if
he's willing to
to welcome us.
So when they buzzed him,
he he thought he was that they were
there for the party, so he opened the
door for them, and he's like, come come
over.
And realizing what was happening, one of them
said, let me go check the situation, and
then I'll come down to invite you. So
he goes
the guy opens the door,
and then he said,
what are you doing here? You're not invited.
You're not you don't.
Your profile doesn't fit any of the people
that are are supposed to be here. What
are you here for? He's like, well, we
have this activity in the masjid, and I
just wanted to invite you over. This is
back in the days when we didn't have
cell phones and we didn't have WhatsApp messages.
None of these. Right? You had to actually
go and and see the person in person
and talk to them and,
you know, without having panic attack
and having
so so he said and I just wanted
to invite you over. You know, we haven't
seen you.
He's like, you know, how rude
of you. And then he spits on on
on him.
And the brother
does this and then he wipes his face
with it, and he's like, jazaqalakherbarakalafiq.
I just wanted to see you in the
masjid.
You know, I get the point. Assalamualaikum. When
he goes
he goes down,
and then there was a younger
member of that group of 3 individuals. He's
like, what happened? He said such, you know,
he told them the story. He's like, Allahu
Akbar.
You someone actually abused you and spit on
your face for the sake of Allah.
You've been abused like those great prophets and
those great dua'is. Allahu Akbar. What an honor.
It's like, give me a second.
You can't be the only one going home
with this with this badge of honor.
So this young
I'm very, like, overzealous and excited and, you
know,
young man, he goes.
He he goes to the to the apartment.
He knocks, he rings the bell and he's
like the guy opens. I'm like, what what's
with you guys? What what do you want?
He's like, I want the same thing.
Just give it to me.
He's like, what are you talking about? He's
like, we came for the sake of Allah
because we love you and we care about
you. We wanted to invite you to the
Masjid, and you abused him, and he's gonna
go home with a lot of reward from
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. He will tell Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, this happened to me for
your sake of Allah, oh Allah.
He
said,
give it to me.
And the brother collapsed. He actually kneeled and
he started crying,
and that's that was that was how he
made Tawbah and he came back to Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
That that the next day he joined them
in the masjid.
When do you know what is happening to
you is for the sake of Allah and
you endure it.
And you don't have to see the reward
or the fruits of it in this life,
but it's for the sake of Allah azza
wa Jal.
So any pain, any suffering, any loss
for the sake of Allah, Azawajal,
when you know this,
then it's worth it. Nothing can break you,
nothing can destroy you, nothing can defeat you.
May Allah
grant you and I and those who work
for the sake of Allah, those who are
defending their rights and the honor of this
Ummah, may Allah
give them resilience, and may Allah
give them victory.
Brothers and sisters, when I say the name
Yusuf Ali,
does that ring a bell to any of
you? When I say the name,
say, Pictel,
does that ring a bell to anybody?
Those that have been following the English translation
of the Quran for a while now, you
might recognize some of these names. Yusuf Ali,
for example, goes back years years years before
maybe my time and many of us, right?
So now why is this important? Because one
of the latest
translators of the Quran
will be visiting us tonight at Memphis
Islamic Center here tonight at 8 pm.
Doctor. Mostafa Al Khattab,
who is one of the most recent and
most well renowned translators of the Quran in
the English language,
considered by many to be perhaps one of
the best translations
of the Quran. His journey will be shared
tonight at 8 pm here tonight. Memphis Islamic
Center,
will be praying Maghrib and the session will
continue until Asia prayer. So please come and
get inspired.
Let your children hear the story of how
he did the translation,
what motivated him to do the translation, and
many things we can learn from that, Insha'Allah.
So come and visit and spend time with
us also.
There's other events this weekend.
The posters are up there,
rotating,
including badminton tonight after Isha. So players, come
out and join us,