Stop Worrying About the Future

Ministry of Energy Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim Al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen wa Salatu was Salam ala sherfield Ambia you will mursaleen Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, while early he will be here but he could sell him. My respect to to you, my beloved brothers and sisters and children. salam Wa alaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh once again, welcome to the Islamic Institute of Toronto on this splits the day of Joomla May Allah subhanho wa Taala accept our prayers and our supplications on this day inshallah.

Few very quick announcements. Number one,

it just wanted to remind you that we have our annual winter dinner on Monday, December 25. Right across here at the Scarborough Convention Center.

Tickets are going very fast. So if you have not purchased your tickets as yet, we have very limited physical tickets left. But also the online portal is still open. When we reached capacity we will have to close this so very close now. We don't have a lot of spaces left if you have not purchased the tickets for the winter dinner and I encourage you to do so please do so inshallah as early as possible.

We will be having our show you

our forestry you Sheikh Abdul Hamid Sheikh applicati Dr. Abdullah Hakim quick and Sheikh Malecon, they will headline the event in sha Allah and we will also have some entertainment by our Clary Abdul Fattah Jathedar and his brothers and we have a parallel children's program also so we encourage all of you to attend. I would like to ask the volunteers to go through the lines Inshallah, please donate generously. Also, we have the food sale that is happening today. Please ensure that before you leave, you purchase a box of food biryani or shawarma or Popeyes and inshallah you can enjoy that with your family. I want to thank all of you, our brothers and sisters

for your support to the Islamic Institute of Toronto over the year of Hamdulillah. We have been able to do a lot we can do much more. But I want to also remind you that the issue with our brothers and sisters in Gaza is continuing the bombardment it's continuing the decimation of the people and the population of Gaza is continuing. We have to keep our voices up. There are a number of things that we can do, including sending postcards to the MPs and to the Prime Minister. We have some postcards on the in the lobby, you can pick up one you can write your name, and you can send it without any postage required. So I encourage you to do that. I also encourage you to do as much as you can, in

whatever way you can to help ease their suffering. And may Allah subhanho wa Taala bless them and accept their shahada May Allah subhanho wa Taala grant them is from the persecution that they are facing, or khateeb today is.

Salam or aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.

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My brothers and sisters, in this blessed day, an hour of human Juma, we ask Allah subhanho wa Taala to accept all of us from amongst the righteous in this world and in the author of The Lahoma I mean, for our brothers and sisters, sisters who suffer across the globe, and especially in Palestine, may Allah subhanaw taala ease their pain and suffering. And may Allah subhanho wa Taala give them victory. I love him. I mean, are you all about today want to shift our attention to something a little different?

I am reminded years ago of a sister who was a revert. And she came to one of my classes. So I got to know this sister and I got to know a little bit of her story.

And she came with a struggle and problem and looking for some answer and direction with this problem. She described that her story started before she was Muslim, she lived a good life.

She had stability, good parents, no problems, no stress, good job, you name it. Everything was going just fine.

And she developed this thirst or hunger for religion. So she started that journey, and her journey led her to Islam.

And she became Muslim.

And she described that's when problems began. Listen to the words carefully since that's when my problems began.

That her life completely turned and shifted, where everything started to become more difficult.

And as she continues to describe her story,

she said it was a challenge to wear the hijab. It was a challenge for her parents to see the wisdom in her choice to become Muslim. It was a challenge just to hold

onto the values of Islam, to change what she eats, what she purchases all of the things that you and I go through on a daily basis as Muslims. And furthermore, she eventually got married,

she married a Muslim,

then problems continued to escalate.

And that marriage eventually turned into a problem to the extent that the marriage broke.

So her story, it sounds like it started off peacefully.

But as she came to Islam and towards Allah, things became more difficult.

Here's the issue.

All of us have a similar story.

That once upon a time, we were not as close to Islam as we may have wanted to be. Some of us have stories where once upon a time in our lives, that we struggled to do the right thing. But life was somewhat okay. You didn't have none of the stress and problems to deal with. But as you journey it, as the years continued to increase in your life and minds, you started noticing that the more I practice and came closer to Allah, it felt like my life was getting more and more stressful. Why? Why is it that it started happening when this journey began? This is a subject we rarely talk about. Lots of Muslims take this for granted. Because usually when somebody says this to you, it's easy to

say to them, Allah is testing you to see if you're really sincere. That's why you're going through this. We don't know that.

Even the one going through the struggle and asking these questions. They don't know why

they're mad, tell us some reasons to think about. And one of those reasons is perhaps Allah is testing your sincerity, or you come accelerometer, which one of you is going to perform the purest and most sincere deeds. So perhaps that could be a reason.

Or the second reason that our scholars help us think about to understand that when life gets tough, especially when you are working on your faith, getting closer to Allah, life is getting more and more difficult all around why that could be happening. So they bring our attention to this.

Millennium it has said,

one of the greatest human beings ever.

Medea, Miley has Salam grew up. And she had a closest to Allah. She had a relationship with Allah. Every time she spoke to Allah, Allah responded to her. She had a very incredible and special relationship with Allah. And as time went on,

eventually you and I know the story tippity Lila, he Salam comes to her, gives her the glad tidings, you're going to have a child.

And things unfold the way they do, what ends up happening.

Now she's carrying this child Risa or the history.

And she has to now confront her community, who might be saying some pretty awful things if they see her pregnant because why? That was not who she was. She didn't have that reputation. She was a woman of purity. She was a woman that people held at a very high level of dignity and respect. So all of that could have been questionable. Why would Allah put her through that? Think about it. She could have easily just said, Oh Allah make all of this easy for me. Just make all of these the tension, the rumours let it all go away. Oh, Allah make it easy for me. The same thing with Aisha or the loved one.

When the scandal broke out, when the rumors started to spread that I asked you, I showed her the Allah Allah was doing this and doing that. And she had to confront Medina this way. She's the wife of the messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And the story goes that she kept herself at home, isolated and secluded from the rest of the community until the rumor died down. Why would Allah put her through that? Because one of the greatest human beings to touch the ground.

And if you continue and look at other prophets and messengers and their stories, it always starts off the same way.

way, most of it is set out a story begins. When the mother is told, take her son,

put him in a basket. LP phillium Then throw the basket in a river. Yemen is one of the names for a river in the poor end. But Yemen is the kind of river that is rough. It never settles. You know how sometimes if you look at a puddle, you'll see like the water is calm, Yemen, it's constantly aggressive, dangerous, it's moving at a high rate. It's the last thing you would think about his jump into water at that point.

But that's how his story begins.

The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa Salam is no different. Think about the moment Allah told him, it pura What is life became,

he had to now confront Metcons say to them, that I'm a prophet. And this is what you need to do. I came to bring the message of Allah, how did they respond?

They started cursing at him.

They started making fun of him. They called him every name in the book, they publicly humiliated him, he could have easily said Subhan Allah, this is the price to pay to get closer to Allah? How do we figure this out? What is the answer to all of this? This is what I want to share with you today. To make sense of all the tests and the trials and the struggles of being a Muslim, why does that happen? And there is only one out of many that the scholars give us that I wish to share with you today.

Now, go back to their stories, go back to all these prophets and messengers and their stories. If you notice, there's an interesting pattern.

Pattern is that as they begin to mature

and a lot began to inspire them.

Know how they history Salam, use the File As Salam, Musa alayhis salam, Maria Marley has Salam, all these great men and women had one thing in common, they never lost hope. You're not Allah.

They never questioned, why am I going through this? They kept hope and trust with Allah.

Exactly. What you and I have to continue to do. I mean,

look around.

When you see what Islam is, in this day and age, how it's talked about how it's portrayed, what people say about Muslims, all across the world. Does it look like a religion that's attractive? Like this is a religion I'm going for most of the time, it's the complete opposite.

But the secret amongst the people of iman,

is that they have a connection of hope and trust in a law like no other. Everybody else around us may question it, except the people of iman. Now where do I get this from? We all know, a very famous area when somebody passes away, what do we say? We say the Nadella he was in LA who wrote your own.

Lots of Muslims don't know what that means. Exactly. Like what does that entail? When you say we belong to Allah and to Him as our eventual return? What does that actually mean? It Nando de la. This is another way to understand the trials and tribulations with your relationship with Allah. We belong to Allah, Allah owns us. We don't own ourselves. Everything that we do belongs to Allah. So we have some control but at the end, whatever choice we make, that outcome is with Allah subhanaw taala. Based on our sincerity, our love for the deen and how much we want to achieve out of this religion. Allah subhanho wa Taala we'll make the decision at the end of the day what is best for us.

Even

when the beginning it looks pretty intimidating. There's nothing attractive. This path that I'm on is just filled with pain on pain upon pain.

I know that I belong to Allah. And I know that to him, I will return I know that I don't even control myself. So I will

do my best to make the right decision hold on to this faith and keep moving forward. You know what the result of that was? Now go back to these Prophets and Messengers. What happened to Medina Miley has Salam. She kept her relationship tight and closeness to Allah. Not when reciting his Salam was born. Allah honored Maria Maria Alayhis Salam. For isa Eileen is Salam. She's the own. He is the only prophet in the entire Quran, who is honored by his mother, by a parent. No other prophet is talked about this way except their ESA or ESA Ibnu Morion. Every time you come across his name, he said, the son of muddy and the son of muddy and she's being honored

through his legacy,

go back to use the family history,

his own brothers, his own siblings. But if you go back to the end now, of the Surah, Allah honors the use of fire Alayhis Salam, he now becomes in charge of everything that goes in and out of Egypt. He eventually is the reason why the father and the rest of the brothers came they reunited everyone apologized. And everybody turned their attention back to Allah. Allah created this legacy through all that pain, but the outcome Allah honored him. The messenger sallallahu alayhi wa salam, oh,

my goodness, look at his journey.

From the very beginning,

to the very end, till the moment the day of his death for Salah Lahore it was, look what he endured.

Look what they used to say to him.

And they, it wasn't just verbal, we tried to assassinate him. They humiliated him. They through awful things to him, threatened his family, his tribe, his community, everything it seemed like he was near or he touched. It was a problem.

But Allah tells us about the messenger, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, you are the seal of all prophets, you are given the greatest honor and the greatest gift of the poor, and you will be the first to enter Jannah and the rest will follow. You will be the prophet who is the leader of all prophets and Messenger. He went through this grind.

But Allah honored him at the end. So where is this reminder going?

It's simple to say it's challenging to journey through and that is,

I know. And you all know that being Muslim is hard.

Sometimes the challenge comes from your own family. Just like Yusuf Ali is sometimes the struggle of just being Muslim. The province is within our own families.

And this is not something we're pulling out of nothing. Allah reminded us in surah Taha urban, a verse many of us know

that Allah tells us Yeah, you hola Xena. In as word you can. What do I do? Well let come back to the room or people of Eman. your spouse's, your children, your wealth, they are all enemies to you. What does that mean?

It means that there are times where they would be the reason pulling you down, pulling you back.

The reason this idea was revealed is that there was a companion now fibbin O'Malley called the Allahu khairan. He migrated from Mecca to Medina. And he wanted to join the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in one of the battles, but his family and his children said No, Dad, don't go stay with us. Why are you going to go to death sentence you're not going to come back? Why would you do that? Is this what the prophets telling you to do? That those kinds of responses, but he held himself together? And he said no, I want to be with him. sallallahu alayhi wasallam

and Allah reveals this verse, sometimes the people that hold you back could be the people closest to us. And what is Allah teaching us as long as you keep me the priority and you trust me? Look back in history of all

All of these problems, what was the outcome? Allah still made mountains crushed, rivers split miracles took place, Allah still gave victory to those who held on to Allah. You know her Illa Allah, Muhammad Rasul allah sallallahu alayhi wa salam.

So with that being said, We'll pause here in sha Allah, and allow yourselves to just reflect and think and pray to Allah subhanho wa Taala that he keeps us steadfast. Now you can appreciate why Allah says letter Mutanda Illa into Muslim don't die unless you are Muslim. Now I understand. Yes, yeah. Now I know why you're telling me. Don't ever allow death to come accept that I'm in the state of submission accept that, at least via Muslim act like a Muslim and live like a Muslim? That's the bare minimum I need to hold on to it. Yes, Dr. Rob, we pray that you preserve and protect La Ilaha illa Allah, Muhammad Rasul Allah in our hearts and in our lives Allah whom I mean, I'll call them

Atos Martin was stalker hola hola. Como se Muslimeen I'm incredibly them stopped in Lahore, Lahore.

hamdu lillah wa Salatu was Salam o Allah rasool Allah, Allah He of Paulo Salah woman What

if you're wondering, what happened to that sister,

that we begin today's reminder about

that sister got married again.

To a good Muslim men.

That sister has children, well,

that sister is sitting here right now in the masjid while he lay.

You don't know where your journey will end? Where Allah is taking you?

You don't know, with all the pain, whether it's in your home or elsewhere, why it's happening to you or me. We may not always have those answers. But Allah tells us, hold on, trust me Don't ever think are fathom the idea. Let the moon Illa and Tomas limo don't leave this world except that you are in a state of belief in submission to Him subhanho wa Taala you do that? Be is Neela Huhtala we will always see the wisdom through pain and difficulty. We will stop worrying about the future because we know Allah took care of that, and worry as much as we can with the journey. And we will pray and continue to pray and trust him. Yeah, don't be whatever your partner is for me and every one of us.

We trust that That putter is the best for me and others you will live that life of positivity, you will be optimistic and you will always be the thing that he tried to trust him SubhanaHu otile I pray that Allah azza wa jal preserves that in our hearts in our lives, not just for us, but our sons and daughters. This reminder came also because many of us will have our children at home for the next few days. For the winter break, take this time and ask your children one question. And this is what I leave you with parents. Ask your kids one question.

Ask them why they are Muslim.

If the response is, Well, Mom, Dad, you're Muslim. So that's why I'm Muslim. That means there's some work to do.

There's some work to do.

And take the opportunity to do what Allah tells us to take care of your family. Start to give them some advice, some guidance and steer them to the direction so they can appreciate that despite why we're portrayed the way we are all the struggles Muslims go through why it's like that, at the end of the day, we are still contented and happy entrust him SubhanaHu Uttara Isla, I pray that Allah azza wa jal keeps us close to him. And I pray that Allah subhanho wa Taala forgive us of our shortcomings that our mistakes Allah whom I mean, we send peace and blessings to all Russell's Salah Torabi, wa salam, Ala Moana subhanho wa Taala Phaeton xili in Allahu Allah Iike to who use Lunarlon

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