Muhammad Salah – Why Does Allah Punish – Islam is Our Way of Life
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the importance of Islam, including its punishment system and free will. They emphasize the need for patient testing and the importance of valuing one's actions as a means to avoid punishment. They also discuss the importance of punishment and trial in understanding human psychology and the free choice package. The speakers emphasize the need for more patient testing and the importance of avoiding injuries and illness. They also mention a news show and encourage viewers to ask questions.
AI: Summary ©
As-salāmu ʿalaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.
Brothers and sisters, welcome to Iman Channel 757.
Alhamdulillah, I am your host this evening.
Well, co-host, should I say, this evening
on this live show, Islam, our way of
life.
Now, brothers and sisters, we all know as
Muslims, we endeavour to follow Islam in our
lives.
But how do we as Muslims abide by
Islam in the modern world?
So, with this show, we're going to be
using different topics and discussing them.
We're going to go through topics which affect
our day-to-day lives.
And ultimately, we want to understand these topics
through the authentic sources of Islam.
So, that's what we're here to do, brothers
and sisters.
Now, today's topic is on why does Allah
punish us?
And Allah, this is a topic that I'm
sure all our brothers and sisters will relate
to.
Yes.
We question this all the time in the
day-to-day base.
So, brothers and sisters, this is a question
I'm sure you want an answer to.
And you want to understand and clarify a
few points in regards to this matter.
And this is the best time for us
to ask this question because we'll be discussing
this matter, inshallah.
And not only that, we'll be discussing it
with our guest.
And we'll be using our platform, which is
a social media platform, which is YouTube and
Facebook.
And for you to take part, this is
what we want.
We want you to join the conversation, inshallah,
by commenting, inshallah, on Facebook, YouTube, inshallah.
And also, we have the WhatsApp where you
can send us a voice message.
And you can send us a video, inshallah,
where we can share it and we can
hear it live and everyone else can benefit
from it, inshallah.
But remember, brothers and sisters, like Brother Farooq
was saying, the whole purpose of the show
is to clarify the matter itself from an
Islamic point of view and how we can
understand this matter moving forward.
And obviously, we'll be having our Sheikh.
He'll be listening to the conversation itself.
And inshallah, for any question that we have,
we can clarify it because throughout the whole
conversation we'll be asking the question, inshallah.
So, Sheikh, without any further ado, what are
we going to...
See, we've had, I think this is like
our fourth show now, yeah?
We've had good response on social media from
you, brothers and sisters.
Now, if you guys want to get involved,
if you want to be a potential guest
on the show, we've got two wonderful guests
who are joining us today to have a
discussion about this particular topic.
If you would like to be part of
the show or anybody you know, perhaps, all
you have to do is just show interest
by sending an email to guest at imanchannel
.tv. That's guest at imanchannel.tv. But if
you want to take part in today's show,
all you've got to do is make the
comments known on the social media platforms, whether
it be Facebook, YouTube, and so on and
so forth.
Now, today's show, alhamdulillah, we have a returning
Sheikh, mashaAllah, from last week.
He did so well, mashaAllah.
We had to ask him to come back
again, didn't we?
We had to bring him back.
So, it's like a boomerang effect, you know,
mashaAllah.
So, the Sheikh returns with us.
Sheikh Mohammed Salah, or Doctor, should I say,
Mohammed Salah.
Welcome, Sheikh.
As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.
Wa alaykum as-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa
barakatuhu, brother Farooq.
How are you and how is everyone in
the studio and your guests as well?
All doing good, barakallah, wafiq, and how are
you, inshaAllah?
Wafiq, alhamdulillah.
Thank you so much for all you're doing,
by the grace of Allah, we're safe and
sound.
Alhamdulillah, brother.
From the answers that you gave us last
week and the benefit that we had from
our conversation, alhamdulillah, we had to ask you
to come back again this week, inshaAllah, so
everyone else can benefit from what we benefited,
inshaAllah.
Jazakumullahu khayran and anytime, brother.
No problem.
Just before we let you go, Sheikh, and
we let you get back to getting the
pen and paper out and keeping tabs on
all the mistakes I'm definitely going to be
making, this is a massive topic so we're
going to try our very best to do
it justice, Sheikh, yeah?
But as it is such a big topic,
we may go into different, you know, philosophical
matters, so on and so forth, so please
forgive us if we make any mistakes, Sheikh,
all right?
And clarify anything we do say, all right?
Jazakumullahu khayran, Sheikh.
Barakallah, wafiq.
Now, let's get to the guests, bro.
I want to bring them here live.
We've got two wonderful guests joining us.
Both, alhamdulillah, joining us today is hopefully to
shed some light on some things that me
and you are going to miss, bro.
Of course.
So, let's bring our first guest on, inshallah
ta'ala.
We have, as always, bruv, ladies first, we're
going to start with, yeah?
This sister, mashallah, has volunteered to take part
in today's show covering why does Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala punish us, yeah?
Now, this topic, brothers and sisters, inshallah ta
'ala, is a massive one and it affects
lots of different people in lots of different
ways.
So, sister Hannah, you're here with us now.
As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullah, sister, how are
you?
As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullah, alhamdulillah, how are
you?
I'm very well, jazakallah.
Okay, thanks for joining us today.
Now, just briefly so we know a little
bit about yourself, what is it you do?
Do you work full-time?
How do you spend your time?
I work part-time for Muntada Aid, the
charity.
I'm also a full-time mother, alhamdulillah, and
I also like to volunteer with Yasin Youth
Tours, which is a youth organization and charity
that helps the youth in the UK.
I'm also interested in religion and psychology and
child development.
Basically, everything.
Yes, a little bit of everything, alhamdulillah.
Inshallah, brother Mizharu, we're going to go to
you next, inshallah.
As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullah.
Wa alaykum as-salam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu,
how are you, brother?
Alhamdulillah, and this question will come to you
as well, inshallah.
If you can introduce yourself to our viewers,
inshallah, who you are and what is it
that you do, inshallah?
As you can see, my name is Mizharu.
I'm a bus driver from East London.
And, yeah.
Alhamdulillah, brother.
So, obviously, at this time of the year,
what's work been like?
I mean, are you still driving the bus
or have they calmed down?
What's the work schedule like?
Currently, I'm not working due to the situation
and the pandemic out there.
There's been a few bus drivers that have
been afflicted by this virus.
May Allah cure them.
I mean, and it's just been a bit
tough out there.
There's fewer buses, more precaution.
So, I'm just taking a bit of time
out, inshallah, until things calm down and, inshallah,
hope to return as soon as possible by
the grace of Allah.
So, to get straight into it then, bro,
I'm going to go with the first little
point here.
I mean, yes, we know that Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala does punish, yeah, and we
know some of the names reflect this in
Allah, but have you ever asked yourself the
question, Mizharu, yeah, why does Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala punish?
And also, how do we answer this?
Because sometimes, especially when you're speaking to family
or to young children as well, they can
come up and say, sister, you're going to
know about this, yeah?
Young children, they'll ask the question, how comes
Allah punishes?
Or someone will say, well, you know, if
God's so forgiving and merciful, how come He
punishes?
How do you respond to that, Mizharu?
And do you agree with it, more to
the point?
First of all, yes, I agree that Allah
does punish, but you have to ask yourself,
why does Allah punish?
If you look at it in the perspective
that, why do our parents punish us?
It's not because they dislike us or they
have hatred towards us, it's because they know
that in order to better us, they need
to punish us.
And Allah is the most merciful, most gracious,
and we know that Allah loves us more
than our parents.
So Allah punishes us for certain reasons.
So we need to sort of understand why
Allah punishes us.
And yes, I have also asked myself when
I was trying to practice our deen and
when I was coming to the deen, I
did ask myself, why does Allah punish us?
Even though we do good, yes, we do
bad, but why does Allah punish us?
That has numerous occasions, it has come up
in my mind.
And the more I studied Islam, the more
I got my answers.
MashaAllah.
Sister Hana, does she agree with him?
Yeah, that's what I want to know.
Sister Hana, do you agree with what he's
saying?
Do you think you go through the same
scenarios he does?
I'm not sure I agree with the word
punishment as much as a trial or a
test.
I do believe we are all tested for
sure.
And mainly for Allah to purify us and
elevate us in status so we could enter
Jannah.
But punishment, I feel like it's such a
big harsh word.
And I am curious to the Sheikh's answers
towards the end, because I'm not 100%
sure if it is considered a punishment.
Are you talking from like a perspective in
the dunya?
So as using Masroor, you brought a great
example.
You said like mum and dad, right?
Right.
So when you're little, you know, you do
something wrong, you tell something, okay, you're going
to get a punishment, you're going to get,
you know, one hour sitting on the stairs
or whatever the type of, I mean, even
today, that might be construed as a bit
harsh.
Yeah.
But when I was little, you'd get a
click around the ear, or the purple snipper,
give you a drilling with the slipper and
you would learn your lesson.
Yeah.
Right.
Are you do you mean that type of
thing that Allah doesn't punish humans in that
way?
He doesn't?
Oh, you did that wrong, my servant.
So therefore, I'm going to do this to
you in order to expiate that sin?
Or are you saying no, what Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala does is test us to
see how we react?
Astaghfirullah go ahead, I heard you saying something.
Yeah, I guess like growing up, we have
this understanding and I didn't always grow up
religious.
So you do good, and you get good.
And if you do bad, you will get
punished with hellfire.
And that was a very scary idea to
grow up with.
But Alhamdulillah, with time and understanding and reading
a little bit more, I'm not saying that
I do know much about the topic, but
I felt like Allah is very just.
So, and he's the most merciful.
So punishment just sounds so harsh.
In my view, I would say the test
more because we do have the free will,
we do have that option always.
I personally agree with what you're saying, because
100% for brother Farooq, and I'm sure
I don't know if anybody else can share
this opinion.
But I personally think that Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala does not punish us in this
world.
He will test us.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala made it
clear to us that he will test his
servants when he loves them.
Or when a servant is being tested by
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, it's for him
to be purified.
And for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, because
he loves this individual, he's testing him in
this dunya.
So that way, when he comes to the
hereafter, his sins will be wiped out.
So I personally agree with your sister Hana
when it comes to the word punishment.
The punishment is for the hereafter, but for
this dunya, there's no punishment.
Only mankind can punish you.
What do you think, my brother?
Well, I want to reflect what Masroor, I
think, I kind of in a certain way
agree, the word punishment, I agree with what
you're saying, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does
afflict humankind or the human being.
Because we know from the Quran, when the
Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was giving dawah
to some of the elites of the Quraysh.
And one of the poor men of the
Quraysh was blind.
He came to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam, seeking some guidance and the Prophet sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam didn't give him the time.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala admonished him
for this.
So from that, we are maybe I'm wrong.
And I hope the Sheikh, you know, inshallah
ta'ala he will correct me if I'm
wrong.
Yeah.
But we as human beings, we do make
mistakes, we do do things wrong.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sends us
the Quran and the hadith in order as
an admonishment for no, don't do this as
a warning, as a type of is that
what you meant, Masroor?
Am I right in saying what I'm saying?
Or did you genuinely mean he punishes physically,
you know, the human?
See, the word punishment, like sister Hannah said,
is quite severe.
And like brother Farooq has mentioned that when
our parents punish us, they don't, they don't
punish us in the term that we think
that they're punishing us is to discipline us.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does give
us trials, so that we become more stronger.
In terms of punishment, the word in itself,
we need to understand what it means, and
how it's been put in the Quran, or
in Hadith.
And in what context the punishment is, is
meant.
For example, brother Farooq has mentioned, parents did
used to punish us give us the notice
to give us a little whack behind the
head.
But that punishment is not the same punishment
as we, we read in the Quran.
So when Allah says that Allah will punish
so and so, for example, punishing the Pharaoh
is not the same as punishing your children.
So we need to understand the context of
the meaning of punishment.
Yeah, yeah, I agree.
I agree.
It's the context to it.
And the word, unfortunately, Arabic is a rich
language in English, we don't have as much
I'd say admonish is probably closer to the
correct way of saying it rather than using
the word punishment.
But let me throw this out there then,
sister Hannah as well, this goes to you.
So say if somebody comes to you, your
child, for example, or maybe a non Muslim,
maybe a work colleague, someone you work with,
or you've met before a friend from school,
and they say to you, you know what,
my brand, my other cousin died, who is
seven years old.
Why did God punish my family with such
an affliction?
And why if God is so loving, and
God is so merciful and kind?
Why did he afflict me and my family
with this?
Maybe it's even a child, right?
Someone who will lose a child to save
God so loving.
And this can really cause a crisis of
faith.
How would you deal with that number one
sister?
It's a very difficult one to deal with,
actually, especially when it comes to grief or
loss of a loved one.
And some things might be difficult to comprehend
at the time.
But as we know, like patient is from
the first affliction in, as it says in
a Hadith.
So that time that you hear the bad
news is the time when you're actually tested
with patience.
We will be tested, no doubt in different
ways.
And in the Quran, Allah says that we
will be tested with a different losses.
And it was mentioned, and I'm paraphrasing in
Surah Al-Baqarah, wealth, as well as people
and I think so like provision and so
give glad tidings to the ones who are
patient.
It's a difficult test.
It's actually one of the most difficult tests
to understand the wisdom behind something.
We might not always understand why.
And that is a true test of faith
because we put destiny, the preordained destiny as
part of our pillars of faith.
So we have to put our trust in
Allah to know best why so and so
has happened.
And we don't know Allah is very merciful.
We don't know if when Allah took away
this child's life, if the child was maybe
not in pain.
Allah can choose to do that if He
wants.
So it is a difficult one.
We just have to remind people to be
patient and that there is an afterlife and
you will see your loved ones in the
afterlife.
I think giving people hope that they will
see who they love again, is one of
the biggest blessings in Islam that we have
that faith.
Khair Inshallah.
Before we do, BarakAllah for your sister.
I just want to remind our brothers and
sisters who are watching the show, the whole
purpose of this show inshallah to get your
opinion.
Do you agree with what we are saying?
Do you agree with our guests inshallah?
Do you agree with me and brother Farooq
on what we are saying?
Just remember brothers and sisters to take part
in the show.
Please remember to leave your comments down below
and remember if you have anything that you
want to say inshallah, put it on our
whatsapp inshallah, which the number you see on
the screen and that way we can ask
and we can ask our Sheikh at the
end of the show where we can actually
get him to.
So we've had a comment there from brother
Ohi Ahmed, mashallah, ma la bless him.
He says, why does the word punishment have
a negative connotation?
Isn't Allah's punishment a beautiful one?
That's a question he's asking.
Great, great response there.
In fact, we'll try and deal with that
and perhaps we'll put that one on the
back burner and the Sheikh later on will
clarify that for you Ohi.
So stay tuned for that inshallah.
Now we've also, just to add quickly to
what sister Hannah was saying, mashallah, I want
to just throw a little ayat out there
which perhaps sheds a little bit of light
on what you were saying as well as
clarifies it for a lot of people when
death is involved because death is morbid.
A lot of people hear it, they say,
well if there's this and it, Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala says that death indeed will
come to everyone.
Every soul will taste death, yeah, every soul
will taste death and everyone will have some
good action or some good afflict them and
some evil as a test from Allah and
ultimately is the return to Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala, surah Anbiya, I think ayah number
35, yeah, so Allah clarifies it, you're going
to die, everybody's going to die and everyone
will have a taste of some evil and
good in their lifetime but ultimately, ultimately we
all go back to Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala so everyone's going to have some sort
of affliction.
Sorry brother, it's not a question, it's just
a topic that I want to continue discussing
inshallah in regards to the topic that we're
talking about today, why does Allah punish us.
Now brothers, give us your opinion in regards
to what I'm about to say and this
is about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that
we as a human being, whenever we don't
get tested by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
in this dunya, in the day-to-day,
where things are going so smoothly, the Prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam told us to be
concerned because obviously that whenever everything is going
so good for you, you should question yourself.
Yeah, sahaba used to in fact become very
afraid, exactly, where is the test from Allah?
What have I done wrong?
Exactly, do you think or do you go
through this phase where you question yourself, how
come everything in my life is going so
well, why is Allah not thinking of me
or remember me to his angels?
Yes, it's something that I often question myself
when something, even in the slightest little things
that go right, I start to question myself.
Obviously I give shukr to Allah that I'm
having all these blessings but also I do
get a bit afraid.
I don't know why I get afraid but
I do get afraid because it feels like,
subhanAllah, is there going to be a calamity?
Is there going to be an obstacle?
So what I tend to do is do
istikhara or give two rakah nafl and just
make dua to Allah that if there is
any obstacles, give me the strength to deal
with the obstacle and if it's going to
be afflicting me in a bad way, then
to repel it in a way that it
does not affect me.
But yes, it does come to mind quite
often when something goes really, really smooth.
We do tend to question ourselves and we
do get scared.
But what my question is, a lot of
brothers and sisters, they don't get scared.
Like brother said, a lot of times we
do get scared when there's good things happening
to us but a lot of times we
should be more scared when there's brothers and
sisters out there that are enjoying the time
and they forget.
Yeah, I agree.
I agree.
Sistahana, what's your thoughts?
I agree.
I get tested a lot if I'm honest.
So I know that it's usually coming throughout
the year, but I've come to terms with
understanding that you get tested according to your
specific situation and I found that helps as
well because it's a beautiful test in a
way.
Maybe like brother Ohi said, it is beautiful
in some ways because you get tested in
specific things to do with you.
So I do believe you get tested to
grow.
You learn from your test and you do
become stronger as the thing says.
If it doesn't kill you, it makes you
stronger.
So definitely you get tested.
But I do feel like punishment or that
kind of fear is a repellent.
So it is a good thing to have
some fear and people who don't have enough
fear, I guess it goes back to how
we should worship Allah like a bird who
has love and fear and mercy on both
wings.
So to have a balance, so we shouldn't
fear Allah too much to the point where
we don't know how to love him and
worship him because he's the most merciful.
So we should have that connection.
But as well, the fear helps us not
be too relaxed in the dunya to just
do whatever we feel like doing.
As this conversation has sort of evolved in
this conversation, it's become quite clear and I
think for a lot of people at home
as well, we're separating two things here.
We've got one side is punishment.
The other side is trial.
We need to make it very clear.
I think that there's now a separation because
a lot of people approach it very single
-mindedly.
Punishment is loss of dunya, loss of this
world.
So you lose something, you lose your job,
you lose your house, your wife, your children,
whatever it might be, whatever loss you face,
you feel as if it's Allah punishing you
for something you did wrong or in fact
that if God was so loving, why did
he punish me?
The actual fact is a trial, it's a
test from Allah.
But what we've got here, what the Prophet
said, just to add to what you said,
Sister Hannah, when he was in the transition
from this world to next, the Prophet went
under a lot of pain and he used
to say there's pain in death.
There's pain in death.
And then he mentioned to one of the
Sahaba who was with him, he said the
death of a Prophet, the feeling they have,
the pain they go through is that so
much fold compared to anybody else in this
world.
Why?
Due to their status with Allah subhana wa
ta'ala.
And there's a hadith that goes with that
for you brother and sister and as well
for you if you want to comment on
it.
The Prophet said and this is in Sahih
al-Jami' also reported by al-Tirmidhi, the
Prophet said the extent of the reward will
be in accordance with the extent of the
trial.
If Allah loves the people, he tries them
and whoever is content will have contentment and
whoever is angry will have anger.
So what we learn from this brothers and
sisters is sometimes, believe it or not, the
closer you get to Allah and more beloved
that you become to Allah, Allah subhana wa
ta'ala then gives you bigger and more
difficult trials.
But he tests you so that he may
separate from the A star to the A.
Sometimes when you do an exam brothers and
sisters, there's the questions that separate the A
star from A.
They're really tough questions and that's why the
closer you get to Allah, you know, inshallah
ta'ala, the better you become because you
get the bigger test.
I hope I'm right and made it very
clear, inshallah ta'ala, you know, with what
I'm saying, inshallah.
Alhamdulillah, inshallah.
We have a comment from YouTube, inshallah.
You can see it's from HALS63.
It says if one is tested with the
trial but the outcome is that they become
fearful of Allah subhana wa ta'ala, which
a lot of people do have this issue
here and they get so scared from Allah
subhana wa ta'ala but then again they
stay away and they stay far, far, far
from Allah subhana wa ta'ala and this
is an issue that we have with our
teenagers nowadays because a lot of them, they
will actually consider or whenever you give them
threats of Allah subhana wa ta'ala, they
think, you know what, that they don't want
to go any further but is this considered
as a punishment but for me, good question,
for me, I say to most people whenever
Allah subhana wa ta'ala, we talk about
Allah subhana wa ta'ala's punishment, it's not
for you to be scared.
Well, if I put it in, yeah, we
definitely got to take this one and go
to the Sheikh with it because if we
put it through the filter of what we've
been discussing so far guys, I don't know
if you'd agree, if we put that same
understanding, okay, Allah tested me, I failed the
test, therefore, I'm further away from Allah than
I was at the beginning.
Does this mean this is a punishment?
So, what do you think brother Mazroor, what
do you think?
Do you think that's part of Allah's ultimate
plan to push someone away as a punishment
for them?
I don't think that Allah punished you so
that He can push you away.
Again, we have to understand the context of
punishment because if you're referring to it as
Allah is punishing a person for their sins,
that's different to Allah putting tests and trials
and tribulations so that they come back to
Allah and repent and get closer to Allah.
So, sometimes Allah does put certain obstacles in
front of you, not to push you away
but to bring you more closer to Him
and there's a lot of misunderstanding a lot
of people have and a lot of non
-Muslims have that idea as well.
A lot of people do ask, oh your
religion is full of punishment and x, y
and z but when you actually truly understand
Islam, you would see that Allah does not
punish His creation but rather He brings them
more closer by giving them tests and trials
and tribulations.
I agree.
I want to quickly just add to that
as well from what you're saying.
So, if you want to jump in Sisah,
do you want to add anything to that?
No, I agree.
I don't think Allah will, I mean that's
the thing I would like to ask the
Shirk a few questions just because I think
there are certain verses that says you know
if people keep driving away from Allah, Allah
will stamp their hearts and you know and
that becomes their punishment where they can't turn
to Allah anymore.
So, there could be an element of that
but I do believe Allah is the most
merciful and He gives you know many chances.
So, yeah from that angle, I would like
to ask the Shirk that question.
Yeah, that's all I can think of for
now.
But let me ask you, I got a
question, it's not a question again, it's just
a discussion as well because it relates to
the topic itself.
Now, we're speaking about punishment and that why
did Allah punish us.
Now, what's the difference between punishment and trial?
This is a question that we were not
going to ask our Sheikh as well.
What's the difference between a punishment and a
trial?
Well, this is my feeling and feel free
to jump in and correct me if you
think I'm wrong yeah but I remember I
was listening to a lecture years ago right
and the Sheikh, he's discussing, he said when
I was younger, he said oh I used
to consider you know how some people would
worship Allah for you know a period of
time and then become a disbeliever and they
would be a disbeliever for say 10, 15
years and they die upon it.
Yeah, Allah would punish them for eternity in
hellfire because they died as a disbeliever and
some people will never worship Allah but they
will live for maybe 15 years, 20 years,
25 years, they will die.
How comes Allah doesn't punish them for 25
years?
Why does Allah punish them for eternity?
You know what the Sheikh said?
He said if Allah subhana wa ta'ala
had given that person 50 years, he would
have disbelieved for 50 years and he would
have rejected and if Allah had given him
a thousand years to live, he would have
rejected.
If Allah let him live forever, he would
have rejected forever and that's why the punishment
because I think that's what we're talking about.
The punishment from Allah is to not be
to die as a non-Muslim and enter
into hellfire or to die as someone who
did something so heinous a crime that you
die as a disbeliever and you enter into
hellfire and I think that's where the punishment
lies and until that moment when your soul
leaves your body, you have a chance to
repent and avoid Allah's punishment because Allah subhana
wa ta'ala says in the Quran throughout
the book that if you do this sin
or that sin, no matter how great the
sin is, once you commit that sin, if
you go back to Allah and repent, Allah
will accept your repentance.
This is a question again from our brother
Sheikh Gaza from YouTube inshallah.
Again, this is a question related to what
I just said earlier on.
It's a beautiful question here.
The beauty of Islam is that what we
see as a punishment such as an illness,
injury which a lot of people do forget
about or loss of members of family or
loved ones will be a means not to
punish but to expiate from a sin that
would be or lead into punishment in the
hereafter.
Now, Sheikh Gaza here again, this is exactly
what I meant by why do people always
think when Allah tests you, it's a punishment.
Why don't they think in a positive way
where they think okay, you know what Allah
has tested me in this dunya now, it
means in the hereafter at least my sin
will be less than what I already have.
You know what Allah said in Hadith Qudsi,
authentic Hadith He said if this dunya was
worth the wing of a mosquito that he
would not give someone who rejects or covers
the truth a drink of water.
That's because Allah doesn't value this dunya.
We the humans, we're the ones who value
it.
That's true.
And we see a loss of it as
a punishment.
Now, do you agree with that sister Hannah?
I know you spoke before but we cut
you.
Do you agree with that position?
Yeah, absolutely.
The whole world and what it contains isn't
worth a fly's wing in the sight of
Allah.
So obviously, this dunya is very, very petty
and very easy for Allah to do and
we are like a small spot in the
universe.
So we are very small indeed.
But we have big egos.
So I guess that's what really plays up
with us is when we get tested, it's
very difficult for us to accept it.
And I think, even though Allah says in
the Quran, Allah doesn't overburden his soul with
more than it can handle or bear.
At first, when you first get tested, we
do think we can't handle it.
It's time to realize that this was a
test.
But I do think that you can also
get punished.
I think sometimes people do, certain things happen
to them as a purification for their sins.
So that could be a punishment as well.
Or a test.
I'm not 100% sure because I know
you get tested with wealth.
It's to expiate for something that you've done.
So it's kind of like to admonish, like
prison, you go to prison because you did
a crime.
But your punishment is the time being spent
in there.
But when you come out, you know, you're
a free man.
It's more to expiate.
But what do you think, do you think
that people put too much emphasis on the
value of the dunya?
Do they feel that there's so much value
in it that any loss of it is
a punishment?
I agree.
Because we live in a day and age
where people, with the slightest bit of trial
they face, they think like, it's the end
of the world.
Oh my God, my whole world is falling
down.
It's coming down upon me.
Why is Allah punishing me?
The mistake that they make is they think
that Allah is punishing them.
Now, Allah is not punishing them.
That's the mistake, the misconception that they have.
Just like Baba Farooq said, when people get
put into prison, it's a punishment for them
to learn and then come out and be
a better person.
So Allah also does the same where Allah
tries to purify you.
So you come out on the other side
as a better person.
But we live in a day in society
where we think that the slightest bit of
trial and tribulation that we face is that
Allah is punishing us.
And that's a very, very big misconception that
we have because Allah doesn't punish us for
things that are like, that doesn't matter to
Allah.
Yeah, it's something, people I think get confused.
Now, I think we'll go to some comments
inshaAllah.
InshaAllah.
So this is another message again from Haseeb
Chowdhury.
Again, a beautiful reminder again.
I personally found that Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala has given us such a beautiful example
in the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
And when you look at all the hardship
and the, not the punishment, the hardship that
the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam went through,
that teaches us, although he's the best of
creation, look what does that make us.
Now, a lot of people see this hardship
as a punishment.
Now, again, this is a question that we
can ask the Shaykh, that whenever we see
the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam went through
a lot of tests, a lot of tests,
but he was the chosen one.
Subhanallah.
And yet again, we as human beings, whenever
we get tested, we think Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala is angry.
They don't say anything else.
They say, you know what, Allah is upset
with me.
I must have done something wrong.
I think to reflect on what the Prophet
went through, there was one year, he called
it the year of sorrow.
Yes, exactly.
And that year he was thrown, stones were
thrown at him by children until it couldn't
flow from him.
His wife died, his uncle died.
This was a great trial for the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
Yet, he never complained and said, oh Allah,
why are you doing this?
Now, I'm sorry guys, we're running quickly out
of time.
I'm going to get a final comment from
you Masroor and from you sister.
But first Masroor, give me your final comment
and anything you want the Shaykh to clarify
for you this time.
I would like to ask the Shaykh to
clarify the answer to why does Allah punish
us?
Because we have this massive misconception that we
think that if something goes wrong in our
lives, we think that Allah is punishing us,
Allah is upset with us, Allah is angry
at us.
What have we done to seek Allah's anger,
Allah's wrath?
When it could be that Allah is just
testing us.
So a lot of brothers and sisters out
there do on a day-to-day basis,
might not directly ask why is Allah punishing
us, but rather they think that Allah is
upset with them, angry with them.
It could be something going wrong in their
life, maybe even something small as their car
breaking down.
Brother Masroor, sister Hannah, I'm so sorry, we
did run out of time.
I've been getting chastised.
We got into it, but Inshallah, stay tuned.
Hopefully, we're clarifying.
Thank you.
May Allah bless you all.
We're going to go swiftly on now to
the Shaykh Inshallah.
Shaykh, I know we said a lot of
things and I'm pretty sure I made some
errors there along the way.
So Shaykh, just first and foremost, can we
get from you just an overall statement about
what our discussion was?
And then we'll get into the nitty-gritty
questions, Inshallah.
Shaykh, can you hear us?
We're experiencing a couple of difficulties, Inshallah.
We've got some connection issues there.
We could have actually gone back to the
sister there, but unfortunately, I think she's gone
now.
But I think the feeling of the conversation
was quite general, you know.
So I think we've got him back.
I guess so we can hear in the
background.
Shaykh, As-salamu alaykum.
As-salamu alaykum, wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.
You know, we think technology is actually out
there, but yet again, there's always a problem
with the technology, subhanAllah.
Shaykh, as Brother Farooq was saying, that you
must have picked up on a lot of
things that we have said, mistakes that we
made.
But yet again, we have questions that we
want to go through, Inshallah, really quick before
the end of the show.
Let's have a general comment from you first,
Shaykh, about our discussion, where it went, and
then we'll go to the specific questions.
First of all, in order to be aware
of the topic that we're talking about, we
should have studied the human psychology.
The free choice comes with a package.
No free choice comes for free.
It comes with a package.
So if you choose to do what is
good, you'll be compensated, and you'll be rewarded.
But if you choose otherwise, there must be
some sort of compensation.
Brother Mazharro is a bus driver, and he
requires a specific driver's license, which requires more
requirements than just simply driving his vehicle.
Can you imagine a bus driver who's driving
the bus while intoxicated?
He would do so if he understands that
he will not be punished.
His license will not be suspended.
One day, a driver was driving me in
the fields early morning, 5 a.m. in
the states, in the state of Virginia or
Pennsylvania, I believe.
And while we're driving for hundreds of miles
in the fields, of course, every stop line,
the driver would stop.
So I said to the driver, Oh, you
know, nobody is there.
Why are you stopping?
The driver said, Because I'm a school bus
driver.
If a cop is hiding here or there
in the field, then he gives me a
ticket, two tickets, and my license will be
suspended, and I will not be able to
provide for my family.
The idea of punishment is very logical.
But look at it from this perspective.
Allah kept beautiful balance in the Quran.
The same number of times Allah spoke about
hellfire.
He mentioned the same number of times Al
-Jannah and its derivatives, 77 times here, 77
times there.
And He kept balance irrespective of their reward
and punishment.
He said, You gotta understand that Allah
is severe in torment, but guess what?
He is also forgiven, most merciful.
To what extent?
He said in Surat Al-A'raf, My
mercy has encompassed everything.
And in the second hadith, the Almighty Allah
said, My mercy surpassed and overcome my anger,
but there must be punishment.
And quickly, Sheikh, one of the main questions
we had from, especially from Masroor, in fact,
we came to the conclusion that there was
a difference between punishment and trial.
I'm coming to this point, Farooq.
I'm coming to the point where I don't
want to say you guys made a big
mistake, but I'm just doing it in a
nice way.
So it is quite interesting that in
the punishment, 117 times, but he has mentioned
the pardoning, the forgiveness and the reward, guess
what?
234 times.
That is double the number of mentioning the
compensation and the punishment.
The point that you all guys raised, and
it seems like you guys have a general
consensus among four of you that whatever we
encounter in this dunya, it must be a
test, not a punishment.
Allow me to say what the Qur'an
says otherwise.
The Qur'an stated repeatedly that there is
a punishment in this dunya, which is required
because people would not simply do what is
good and abstain from doing what is bad
unless there is an incentive and there is
a warning.
Every single time Allah described his messenger or
the Qur'an as Bashirah, he didn't say
Bashirah and that's it.
And he said, and as a warner, as
a warner and as a deliverer of glad
tidings.
So take for instance how Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala said in surah Taha chapter number
20, you have a set of verses 123
all the way to 125, I believe, or
126, in which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
quotes upon what happened to Adam after he
was kicked out of heaven, then both of
whom repented, Adam and Eve.
So the Almighty Allah said, it is understood
that those who follow my guidance, my revelation
and my prophets, they shall never go astray
nor suffer of any distress other in the
form of tests and trials or punishment.
Then he said, but whoever will turn away
from my guidance, from my reminder, then their
life will be miserable.
This is as means of punishment.
And how do you know?
Maybe it's a means of tests and trials.
Then he said, so this is a torment,
a punishment for their turning away from the
guidance of Allah in this then he said,
and guess what?
The torment of the year after is even
severer and greater.
Take also a beautiful reference of surah Al
-Shura ayah number 30.
This means
whatever
afflicts you of a calamity, of a calamity,
whether in the form of a trial or
punishment, it is as a result of your
own earning, your own wrongdoing.
Yet he pardons a lot.
This ayah is very crucial.
This ayah is a cornerstone in the subject
that we are conversing right now, brothers and
sisters.
So Allah says that if there is a
punishment that befalls us, it is because of
some sort of a sin that we have
indulged in.
Just a few years after the death of
Prophet Muhammad, there was an earthquake.
So when there was an earthquake, Umar Ibn
Khattab was worried that it's a mean of
punishment, not just simply a trial.
And he said, by Allah, if it happens
again, I'm not going to live with you
anymore.
He was afraid that somebody must be doing
something so I'll just want to quickly go
back to the question we received.
We had a question from one of the
commenters on YouTube and they said, if I
commit a sin, right, and I am sent
as a trial or test this thing and
I failed the test or I commit the
sin and it removes me further away from
Allah.
So before maybe I was praying my salah
and then after the sin and after doing
the evil, I go further away.
I stop praying and I stop, you know,
doing the good deeds that I was doing
before.
Is this considered a punishment?
Because I did it because I failed the
test.
You're asking me?
Yeah, that was a question we received.
Okay.
In Surah Al-Sajdah, the Almighty Allah says,
and there I'm only quoting Quran.
So far, I only quoted one hadith.
So I'm quoting what Allah says.
In Surah Al-Sajdah, the Almighty Allah says
in ayah number 21, He explained
the wisdom behind punishing some people for either
major sins or minor sins in this life.
He said for the purpose of alerting them
so that they shall come back to Allah.
In reality, the ayah contains an answer to
your first and second question.
He said, So he said, I'm going to
show them a little bit of punishment in
this dunya.
Yeah, the big punishment is there.
Remember what I said?
That is in the hereafter.
But the Almighty Allah said, So as Muslims,
we believe that His mercy is there and
it encompasses everything.
But this penchant of an ear or little
punishment is to alert the person you must
have done something wrong.
Repent.
And then when you repent, repentance erases and
remits whatever sins were committed before.
When it was time to take shahadah and
accept Islam, Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam stretched
out his hand to him and said, Give
me the pledge of allegiance.
He pulled his hand back and he said,
O Prophet of Allah, not before you promise
me.
He said, promise you what?
He said, I was a terrible person.
You gotta promise me that God will forgive
me all my sins.
Then I will take shahadah.
So the messenger of Allah peace be upon
him smiled and he said, Don't you know
that?
The last thing that means that when you
repent, it erases whatever sins you've done.
Look what Allah says in surah al-Baqarah.
Even if those sins piled up and they
become like a mountain, it doesn't matter.
You come to Allah with sincere repentance, they
will be blown away.
But what more mercy do you expect?
But not all people are so nice like
you guys.
You want to worship Allah, but without fear,
this is not gonna happen.
Hope and fear in Islam is like the
two wings for a bird.
Have you ever heard of a bird flew
or can fly with one wing at a
time?
Of course not.
It's not gonna happen.
That's why you look what Allah says again
and again in surah al-A'raf.
He says invoke him, supplicate to him, worship
him.
The best of the companions of the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam were aware of the
punishment of Allah in this dunya and they
avoided it.
He used to say, I know when Allah
punishes me.
They said, how?
When I do something wrong, he says, I
see that in the attitude of how my
wife treats me.
So say someone, right?
They're sitting at home and they become sick.
They get an illness and they become very
sick and they're feeling ill.
And that's like a disease that passes in
their family.
Can they say that, oh, Allah is punishing
me for something that I did for this
disease?
Or should he look at it as, no,
this is a test from my Lord.
And this, the illness that I have is
a test from Allah.
This is an excellent question.
And that is the third aspect in today's
meeting.
The question is, whether this is a punishment
or a test, who can answer that?
Only the person who has been tested or
punished.
I don't know what you've done in private.
So the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says,
Indeed, Allah will punish a servant by depriving
him from some risk, whether in the form
of a job, earning, marriage, buying a better
car, moving to a better house, simply because
he has committed some sort of sin.
Who would know that?
Only you and your Lord.
So if you know that you've committed sin,
rush to Allah and say, oh, Allah, forgive
me.
What if, alhamdulillah, all night you have been
praying, you don't earn Allah fully, you're very
pious, and then the same affliction has afflicted
you, then congratulations.
This is to raise your ranks before Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Which I mean, the outcome is the same.
So the question with this, whether this is
a punishment or a test for us as
community, it will not be of any use.
It will be only individually.
Sister Hannah knows what she's done yesterday, and
maybe, maybe I got in a car collision
today.
Allah is alerting me.
Muhammad, forgive me, inshallah, because we have questions
coming up through WhatsApp, and we want to
make sure our viewers get in the questions,
inshallah.
So we need a nice quick answer on
this.
Forgive me, inshallah.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, He will
not punish whilst we are seeking His forgiveness.
Is that correct, Sheikh?
Perfect.
This is an ayah of the Quran.
Allah said in the beginning of the ayah
that Allah will not punish them as long
as you are in them.
This is a collateral damage.
And this ayah is in line and in
the spirit of what we say.
You say astaghfirullah, and you mean it, then
even if your sins are like the mountain
of Uhud, you'll be blown away.
Another comment from a brother called Hal63.
Forgive me, Sheikh.
I want to give you the whole time.
Maybe we need to do a lecture series
on this, but let's have a look at
this comment from the brother, mashallah, or sister.
Hal63 says, Actually, do we not have the
right to say whether Allah is testing us,
pleasing us, or punishing us, etc.?
So do we, the human, have the right
to decide what Allah is doing with us?
Yeah, every individual is required to assess himself
or herself.
So, as I said earlier, you're the only
person who can tell.
You know what you've done wrong yesterday.
You know if you're earning unlawfully.
You know if you've committed adultery.
You know if you've been smoking.
Somebody has got a lung cancer.
Then you say that's a test.
Sheikh, jazakallah, the time is gone.
It's super clear for us.
I hope you're back next week.
We need more of the same, inshallah.
Enjoy your week, Sheikh.
Brothers and sisters, it's been an information-packed
show.
I'm so sorry to the Sheikh that we
had to cut him so many times there.
I feel really bad.
But, barakallah al-fiqh.
If you want to get involved, you should
send an email to guest at imanchannel.tv.
Guest at imanchannel.tv. From us, inshallah, till
next time.
As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi ta'ala wa
barakatuh.