Moutasem al-Hameedy – Faith Is Strength – Islamic Reminder
AI: Summary ©
The importance of Islam in shaping behavior is discussed, using historical context and examples of the Prophet's teachings. The "has" in actions and relationships is also emphasized. The importance of physical strength and physical weakness is also discussed, along with the importance of winning in a Battle and protecting others. The importance of trusting in something and striving towards a goal is also emphasized.
AI: Summary ©
All praise is due to Allah, the Most
Gracious, the Most Merciful.
We Praise Him.
We Seek His Aid And We Ask For
His Forgiveness.
We Seek Refuge In Allah From The Evils
Of Ourselves And The Evil Consequences Of Our
Actions Whomsoever Allah Guides None Can Lead Astray
And Whomsoever Allah Leaves To Go Astray None
Can Guide.
I Testify That There Is None Worthy Of
Our Worship And Devotion But The Almighty Allah
Alone.
And I Testify That Muhammad Sallallahu Alehiwassallaam Is
His Servant And His Messenger Or You Who
Believe Fear Allah As He Should Be Feared
And I Not Except In A State Of
Surrender And Submission To Your Lord Or Mankind
Be Dutiful To Your Lord Who Created You
From A Single Person And From Him He
Created His Wife And From Them Both.
He Created Many Men And Women And Fear
Allah Through Whom You Demand Your Mutual Rights
And Observe The Rights Of Your Kin.
Surely Allah Is Ever And All Watcher Over
You Or You Who Believe Keep Your Duty
To Allah, Fear Him And Speak The Truth.
He Will Direct You To Righteous Deeds And
Will Forgive Your Sins And Whoever Obeys Allah
And His Messenger Has Indeed Attained A Great
Achievement.
The Best Speech Is The Divine Speech Of
Allah And The Best Guidance Is That Of
Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alehiwassallaam And The Worst Things
In The Religion Are The Newly Invented Matters
For All The Newly Invented Matters In Religion
Are Heretical Innovation And Bid'ah And Every
Bid'ah Is Misguidance.
Imam Muslim Collected In His Sahih From Abu
Huraira R.A. The
Prophet Sallallahu Alehiwassallaam Says In This Hadith The
Strong Believer Is Better And Dearer To Allah
Than The Weak Believer.
And In Both Of Them There Is Good.
Then The Prophet Sallallahu Alehiwassallaam Goes On To
Say Be Keen And Diligent In Seeking What
Is Good For You And Never Fall In
Despair Or Helplessness.
And If Something Happens Against What You Want
Or What You Wish, Don'T Say Had I
Done This Or Only If I Did This
Or That Things Would Have Been Different Because
The Expression Lawoo Which Means Only If Opens
The Door For The Work Of Shaytan Collected
By Imam Muslim.
This Is A Great Hadith From The Prophet
Sallallahu Alehiwassallaam And If We Understand It With
A Modern Mindset Of What A Strong Believer
Means.
We Will Misconstrue The Meaning.
The Prophet Sallallahu Alehiwassallaam Says The Strong Believer
Is Better And Dearer To Allah.
Allah Loves The Strong Believer More Than He
Loves The Weak Believer.
Although Both Of Them Have Good But The
Good With The Stronger Believer Is Greater.
That'S Why Allah Loves Him Or Her More
Than The Weak Believer.
But What Is The Strength That The Prophet
Sallallahu Alehiwassallaam Is Talking About?
Since The Term Strong, Al-Qawiyy Here In
This Hadith Is Not Qualified, Is Not Limited
To Any Area.
Then It Means Different Types Of Strength.
But We Need To Understand This Type Of
Strength According To Islam Itself And The Worldview
That Islam Offers.
The Prophet Sallallahu Alehiwassallaam In Another Famous Hadith
Explains To His Companions What Strength Really Means.
The Prophet Sallallahu Alehiwassallaam Challenges A Common Notion
Among People About What Strength And Power Really
Mean.
Because People Assume The Strong Among Men Is
The One Who Is Physically Strong.
The One Who Can Beat Others And Put
Them To The Ground.
He Can Wrestle With Them And Defeat Them.
So The Prophet Sallallahu Alehiwassallaam Says To The
Companions Laysa Shadidu Bissura'a And The Surah
Is Someone Who Is Very Known For Physically
Overcoming Others Like He'S Physically Superior In Terms
Of His Physical Strength To Others So He
Can Defeat Them.
The Prophet Sallallahu Alehiwassallaam Says The Strong Man
Is Not The Person Who Can Overpower Others
With His Physical Strength.
The Real Strong Man Is The Person Who
Is Able To Take Control Of Himself In
Moments Of Anger.
So The Prophet Sallallahu Alehiwassallaam Says That Don'T
Think That Strength Is About Physical Or External
Display Of Strength.
Real Strength Is When You Win The Inner
Battle.
So You Need To Win The Inner Battle
Against Yourself And Against Your Desires And Against
Your Weaknesses And Base Tendencies Before You Are
Able To Win Battles Outside.
That'S The Order In Islam.
You Have A Battle Within Against Your Nafs,
Your Base Desires And Then You Have A
Battle And You Have An Inner Battle Against
Shaytan.
You Have To Win Those Battles Before You
Are Able To Win The Battles Outside.
And If You Ignore This Advice And Decide
To Win The Battles Outside While Ignoring The
Battles Within, You Would Bring Your Weakness Your
Shortcomings Into Your External Battles.
And Even If You Win Externally, The One
Who Wins Is Not Yourself, But It Will
Be Your Shortcomings.
It Will Be Your Nafs.
What Does That Mean?
Because The Nafs Has Tendencies.
It Has Greed.
It It Cannot Be Satiated.
It Always Wants More As The Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam Says If Son Of Adam Has
A Valley Full Of Gold, He Would Wish
For A Second.
If He Has Two Valleys Full Of Gold,
He Would Wish For A Third And So
On And So Forth And Nothing Puts An
End To The Greed Of Man But Death.
As Long As You Are In This Life,
There Is Greed Within Yourself.
There Is This Obnoxious Nature Of The Self
That Always Wants For Itself.
It Is Lowly.
And We Call This Self-Centeredness.
You Have A Tendency To Lie, To Deceive,
To Put Yourself First, To Cut Corners, To
Wrong Others, To Cheat, To Seek Means Round
And Not To Act Optimally, To Take The
Easy Way Out And Violate The Moral Standards
Of Islam.
We All Have These Tendencies, All Of Us.
This Is A Challenge That Allah Put Us
Through And If You Don'T Win The Battle
Against This Immoral Call Of The Self And
The Nafs, When You Fight The Battles Outside,
You'Re Going To Bring This Greed.
You Will Bring The Short-Sightedness.
You Will Bring The Selfishness Outside And That'S
What Wins Outside.
It'S Not Your Heart.
It'S Not The Good Side Of Who You
Are.
It'S Not Virtue.
So That'S Why When You Seek To Win
The Battles Outside First, All You'Re Doing
Is You'Re Bringing That Selfishness And That
Greed And That False Sense Of Loyalty.
You Will Bring It Outside And You Will
Make It Win Against Others.
But That'S Not Who You Really Are.
That Is Something That Has Defeated You Within.
Something That Has Taken Over You And You
Have Become A Soldier For It.
You Have Become An Agent For Evil.
Even When Seemingly Outside You'Re Winning The
Battles.
So The Strong Believer Is Someone Who Conquers
The Inner Enemy First.
That'S What A True Believer Is.
You Need To Strengthen Your Heart Against Your
Nafs.
Your Heart Needs To Win The Battle Against
Shaitaan.
Once You Dominate Within, Your Presence In The
World Will Be A Blessed One.
You Will Become A Force For Good.
And That'S The Meaning Of The Statement Of
The Prophet Salallahu Alaihe Wasalam, المؤمن القوي خير
وأحب إلى الله من المؤمن الضعيف The Strong
Believer Is Better And Dearer To Allah Than
The Weak Believer And That Means The One
Who Has Already Won The Battle Within And
When You Win The Battle Within, Life Outside
Is Not The Same.
Every Battle You Engage In Even If You
Lose It, You Are The Winner.
The Muslims Had A Setback In The Battle
Of Uhud, 70 Companions Were Killed, Were Murdered.
What Started As A Great Win By The
Muslims Ended Up Being A Great Setback.
Yet It Was A Great, It Was It
Worked In The Advantage Of The Muslims And
Allah Says To The Believers Do Not Be
Disheartened.
Do Not Be Discouraged.
You Will Be The Uppermost As Long As
You Hold On To Faith.
And That'S Why The Prophet Salallahu Alaihe Wasalam
Said In The Authentic Hadith In Sahih Muslim
Also Narrated By Abu Hurairah Radhiyallahu Anhu Amazing
Is The State Of A Believer.
All His Affairs Are Good For Him.
If Good Comes To The Believer, A Blessing
Comes To The Believer.
He'S Thankful Or She'S Thankful And That'S Good
For Them.
But If A Hardship, If A Loss, If
Pain, If A Disease, An Illness, If Harm
Comes To The Believer, They Are Patient.
He Is Patient In The Face Of It
And That Ends Up Being Good For Him.
And This Feature Is Exclusive To The Believers.
That'S The Strong Believer.
That'S The Strong Believer.
So We Need To Win The Battle Within
First And Foremost For Allah Subhanahu Wa'Ta'Ala
To Love Us.
Then Allah Will Aid You And Then Outside
You Have So Many Battles To Win.
You Have The Battle With Your Family And
Don'T Take That On Face Value.
Your Family Is A Big Challenge.
Your Spouse Is Your Responsibility To Deal With
And Give Them Their Rights And Keep Them
Upon The Path Of Allah Subhanahu Wa'Ta'Ala
If They Cross The Boundaries Of Allah, You
Have To Remind Them Of Allah Subhanahu Wa'Ta
'Ala.
If They Fall Short, You Have To Bring
Them Back To Track.
You Have To Give Them Their Rights Even
When Yourself Says No.
You Need To Provide For Them When You
'Re Trying To Win Something For Yourself.
You Need To Put Them Many Times.
You Need To Put Them First.
You'Ll Have To Sacrifice Many Of Your
Dreams, Many Of Your Wishes, A Lot Of
Your Luxuries And Favorite Engagements.
You Have To Sacrifice That For Your Spouse
Many Times And For Your Children.
You Have To Discipline Your Children.
You Have To Organize Your Life Around Taking
Care Of Them.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَقُوْا أَنفُسَكُمْ وَأَهْلِيكُمْ نَارًا
وَقُودُهَا النَّاسُ وَالْحِجَارَةُ O You Who Believe, Protect,
Safeguard Your Family, Your Children From A Fire
Whose Fuel Is Humans And Boulders.
A Person Who Is A Man Who Is
Able To Be A Man In His House.
Who Takes Care Of His Family.
And Keeps Them On The Path Of Allah
Subhanahu Wa'Ta'Ala.
He Acts With Mercy And Compassion When The
Situation Calls For That.
He Acts With Decisiveness And Manhood When The
Situation Calls For That.
And He Acts With Justice And Insight And
Devotion To Allah Subhanahu Wa'Ta'Ala.
That'S A Man Who Has Won The Battle
Within.
Not The Man Who Please Or Tries To
Be A Man In Front Of A Weaker
Person In Front Of Him Or The Person
Who Makes So Much Noise And They Get
Things Their Own Way.
That'S A Man Who Is Championing The Weaknesses
Within Himself And Making Them Public And Spreading
Corruption In The World.
That'S A Strong Believer.
You Know There Is This Temptation For The
Battles Outside.
They Have Their Pull.
They Are A Powerful Temptation And These Seem
To Promise An Easy Victory Or Success.
And There'S Also Another Source Of The Temptation.
Because If You Win Outside, You Get Recognition
By Others.
And This Is Something Ourself Craves.
And Shaitaan Wants Us To Celebrate That Because
He Knows He Can Pull Us In Any
Direction He Wants As Long As We Follow
The Desire For Recognition, Social Recognition.
But You Have To Win That Battle.
Then You Become Free From Shaitaan.
Because If You Don'T Win The Inner Battle,
You Become A Slave For Shaitaan.
The Battles Outside That You Are Fighting, No
Matter How Virtuous They Are, You Will Be
Fighting On Behalf Of Shaitaan.
You Would Be Bringing More Damage To Them.
To The Causes That You Are Fighting For
Because You Are Bringing The Filth And The
Weaknesses And The Shortcomings That You Have Not
Been Able To Conquer.
You Will Bring Them To The Public Arena.
And You Would Be Clueless About How Harmful
They Are.
And That'S What Allah Subhanahu Wa'Ta'Ala Referred
To The...
That'S The Way Allah Described The Hypocrites.
وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمْ لَا تُفْسِدُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ قَالُوا
إِنَّمَا نَحْنُ مُصْلِحُونَ أَلَا إِنَّهُمْ هُمُ الْمُفْسِدُونَ وَلَكِنْ
لَا يَشْعُرُونَ When It Said To Them Do
Not Spread Corruption And Evil In The World.
They Say We Bring Reform.
We'Re Doing Good.
We'Re Helping This Cause.
We'Re Calling For Something Good.
Allah Says Indeed They Are The Ones Who
Are Bringing Corruption.
But They Realize It Not.
They Can'T Realize That.
Why?
Because They Are Blind.
What Is The Source Of Blindness?
The Fact That They Lost The Battle In
Their Heart.
And They Came Out Too Early Trying To
Conquer The External World.
Then The Prophet Salallahu Alaihe Wasalam Other Than
The Battles That You Need To Win Other
Than Your Greed And Selfishness, Your Ignorance.
Allah Says About Man Humans Have Two Powerful
Tendencies.
A Tendency For Injustice And A Tendency And
A Natural State Default State Of Ignorance.
Jahula.
These Are Battles You Have To Conquer.
Your Natural Tendency For Injustice, For Aggression, For
Oppression To Put Yourself First Is A Tendency
You Need To Overcome.
Then Your Ignorance Is A Battle That You
Need To Fight.
And If You Come Out Into The World
Before You Win Those Battles You Will Be
A Source Of Corruption, Even When You Don'T
Realize It.
You Think You'Re Doing Good, But You
Would Be Causing Damage.
But You Are So Confused Within That You
Can'T Even Understand The World Outside.
That'S What The Prophet Salallahu Alaihe Wasalam Is
Telling Us.
Then When You Add To This Physical Strength,
Intellectual Strength, Skills That You Have In The
World, That Becomes A Bonus.
But If You Have All Of The External
Skills That People Celebrate, But You Have Lost
The Battle Within, You Are A Weak Believer.
And You Are A Soldier Of Shaytan, Even
When You Don'T Realize It.
You'Re Whacking At What The Good That
Is In The World Thinking You'Re Doing
Good.
And That'S The Irony Of People Who Act
Too Early, People Who Decide Not To Fight
The Battle Within.
Then The Prophet Salallahu Alaihe Wasalam Says, All
Believers, Strong Or Weak, There Is Good In
Them.
What Is The Good?
Iman, Belief In Allah.
But It'S Weak In The Weak Believer.
So The Strength Of A Muslim And The
Prophet Salallahu Alaihe Wasalam Is Going To Explain
Where This Strength Or Part Of This Strength,
Where Does It Come From?
So The Prophet Salallahu Alaihe Wasalam Advises Us
How To Navigate The World And Be Strong
In It.
Be Keen, Be Diligent In Attaining The Things
That Are Good For You.
And Here When We Say Good For You.
We Also Need To Reconfigure What That Means
Because If We Understand It With A Modern
Mindset, We'Re Going Wrong.
People Think That Whatever Prophet I Can Get
In The World Is Good For Me.
Not Necessarily.
The Good In This World Is Whatever Brings
You Closer To Allah.
Whatever Guarantees Or Helps That You Are On
The Path To Allah Pleasing Allah Subhanahu Wa'Ta
'Ala, Any Blessing That Takes You Away From
Allah Or Slows You Down On The Path
Of Allah Is Not Good.
It Becomes A Curse.
It Becomes A Curse.
So The Meaning Of Whatever Happens In Your
Life Is Contextual.
So The Prophet Salallahu Alaihe Wasalam Says Be
Keen And Diligent To Get What Is Good
For You.
What Is Good For A Believer?
To Attain The Acceptance And The Pleasure Of
Allah, To Worship Allah, To Dedicate Every Part
Of Your Life For Allah.
There'S No Duplicity In The Life Of A
Muslim.
I Have A Life At Home And A
Life At Work And Then I Have A
Life At The Masjid.
Sometimes I'M Religious But I Have A Split
Personality, You Know When I Where I Just
Act Like Everyone Else.
That'S A Textbook Definition Of Hypocrisy.
So The Believer Lives Here For Allah.
You Were Created For Allah.
The Livelihood Around You, All The Details Of
Life Are There, They Are Part Of The
Journey And They Are Meant To Be Something
That Helps You Get Closer To Allah.
If They Don'T Help You Get Closer To
Allah, There Will Be Hurdles And Obstacles On
The Path.
And That'S How You Navigate The World.
You Do Not Fall In Despair.
You Do Not Fall In A Sense Of
Helplessness.
Why?
Because Yes, You Are Supposed To Do The
Work In This Life.
You Supposed To Seek, You Supposed To Put
In The Labor.
But The Results Are Not With You.
There Is A Bigger Plan.
There Are Bigger Dynamics And That Is The
Word Of Allah Subhanahu Wa'Ta'Ala, The Qadar
Of Allah Subhanahu Wa'Ta'Ala.
You Still Have To Try But Your Actions
Are Part Of The Plan Of Allah.
They'Re Just One Ingredient And This Bigger
Context Of The Qadar Of Allah Is So
Powerful That You Cannot Control It.
But Still You Have To Strive And Do
Your Best.
So The Prophet Salallahu Salam Continues To Say
Do Not Say If Something Happens Against Your
Plans And Against Your Work.
You'Re So Keen To Get What'S Good,
But Your Plans Don'T Work Out.
The Prophet Salallahu Salam Said Don'T Resort To
Only If.
Why?
Because Only If Opens The Door For Shaitan
To Start His Work.
So Only If Opens The Door And Shaitan
Comes In.
Shaitan Comes In, He Wreaks Havoc In Your
Heart And In Your Mind.
Because When You Say Only If, You Are
Saying Things Are Not In The Hands Of
Allah.
They Are In My Hands And I Messed
Up And That'S Why Things Go Wrong.
That'S Why It Opens The Door For Shaitan.
It Opens Your Heart For Shaitan Because You
Are Cancelling Allah, You'Re Ignoring Allah And
How He Animates The Universe.
You Think Your Works, Your Actions Get The
Results.
Allah Says No, What Happens Is The Qadar
Of Allah.
You Put In The Work But Allah Decides
Whether Things Happen Or Not.
But Shaitan Wants You To Believe That You
Are The One Who Makes Things Happen Or
You Are The One Who Messes Up And
Then Loses And That'S Why A Lot Of
Muslims Now They Say, Oh, I Made A
Million Dollars.
You Didn'T Make Them.
Allah Provided You With That.
Yes, You Strove And You Worked But It'S
Allah Who Is Ar-Razzaq.
That'S Our Aqeedah.
That'S Our Worldview Because You Could Put In
The Work 10 Times Over And If Allah
Doesn'T Want To Give You A Million Dollars,
He Would Not Give It To You And
You Would Never Get It.
So Never Attribute This Causality To Yourself.
See Yourself As A Force That Tries To
Do Good But Things Are In The Hands
Of Allah.
So When You Strive, When You Seek Allah
Subhanahu Wa'Ta'Ala And You Strive To Do
Your Best, Always Hand Things Over To Allah.
Whatever Allah Brings Into This World, Allah Is
Merciful.
Allah Knows What He'S Doing.
Everything In This Life Happens For A Reason.
Everything In This Life Is A Result Of
Allah'S Wisdom.
Don'T Question That.
Even If It'S Painful, If It'S Uncomfortable, This
Is A Test For You And Sometimes As
The Scholars Say, Ba'dun Nasee Usaqu Ilal Jannati
Bisiyaqil Ibtila There Are People That Allah Forces
Into Jannah.
There Are People That Allah Forces Into Jannah
With What?
With So Much Hardship In Their Life.
So Even Hardship Could Become A Blessing If
You Trust In Allah Subhanahu Wa'Ta'Ala.
We Ask Allah To Guide Our Hearts And
Open Our Minds And Keep Us On His
Guidance.
Allahumma Kulli Ibadika Al-Mumineena Fee Kulli Makaan
Fee Filistina Wa Ghazza Wa Fee Al-Sudana
Wa Fee Al-Sham Wa Fee Ghayrihaa Min
Biladi Al-Ardi Yaadha Al-Jalali Wa Al
-Ikram Allahumma Aizzahadha Al-Deena Wa Ahlah Wa
Adhillah Al-Shirka Wa Al-Mushrikeen Ya Qawiyu
Ya Aziz Allahumma Aati Nufusana Taqwaha Wa Zakkiha
Anta Khairu Man Zakkaha Anta Waliyuha Wa Mawlaha
Barakallahu Li Walakum Fil Quran Al-Azeem Wa
Nafa'ani Wa Iyakum Bima Fihi Mina Al
-Ayati Wa Al-Dhikri Al-Hakeem And A
Final Reminder, You Know That The New Pipe
That Had To Be Installed As A Regulations
Of The City, It Cost The Masjid Quite
A Bit Of Money And Alhamdulillah With The
Fundraising Last Week, We Only Sixteen Thousand Dollars
Short.
So, Please Be Generous.
Inshallah, Let'S Hit The Target Because I Think
Time Is Running Out.
Let'S Help The Masjid Inshallah, Hit The Target
And Get This Done Without Any Issues Without
Any Hiccups, We Have A Better Budo Area
And Don'T Forget, I Don'T Need To Repeat
All The Talk About The Reward That You
Get Bi-Idni Allahi Ta'Ala, Once You
Do This For The Sake Of Allah, Win
This Resistance Within Yourself, Win This Battle, Inner
Battle Within, You Know By Going Over The
Self's Desire To Hold On, To What We
Have, Do That Sacrifice For The Sake Of
Allah, Allah Will Never Shortchange You.
We Ask Allah Subhanahu Wa'Ta'Ala To Accept
From All Of You.