Mustafa Khattab – Blessing In The Test
AI: Summary ©
The dams test various aspects of people's lives, including their lifestyle, history of experiencing certain events, and trusting in Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. The importance of trusting in Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is emphasized, along with the need for forgiveness and acknowledging negative experiences. The speaker also discusses the use of negative language and the impact of Islam on people's behavior, including the loss of health and faith. The segment concludes with a reminder of a man named Arthur Ashe and a story about him being caught on drugs.
AI: Summary ©
I bear witness of Muhammad salallahu alaihi wa
sallam in the seal of the prophets and
the final messenger to all of humanity.
Whoever Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala guides, there is
none to misguide.
And wherever Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala leaves to
stray, there is none to guide. Right?
Out. Waba'at
last Jum'ah we spoke about
namatul Iftila How Allah
will send you Iftila
as a way of bringing you closer to
Him
And we said this whole life is a
test.
We're tested in different ways and you don't
if if you think of this life as
a test when you go to the test
they give you the curriculum you study and
so on and so forth you don't get
to choose the questions in the test
They tell you question 1, 2, 3, 4.
All you have to do is answer the
questions. You don't tell the teacher or whoever
is giving you the test what kind of
questions you will have in the test.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is telling us
in the Quran
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala created life and death
to test
you.
So human beings, as Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
said, we created human beings in constant struggle
so you are always struggling
so if you think about your life in
this dunya you are basically like a hustler
this is what the what the ayah comes
down to
even before you were created
you live in this dunya after you leave
this dunya you are hustling in this dunya
so before you come about in the belly
of the womb or the the belly of
the mother
before conception
there's hustling about you. Right? So there are
250,000,000
sperms
they are fighting for 1 egg so eventually
the biggest hustler of all will make it
to the egg and you come about.
Then, you come out of the belly of
your mother you know the contractions and the
pain. You come out, they cut the umbilical
cord, you are in pain.
They circumcise you, you are in pain. They
give you immunization shots, you are in pain.
They take a piece of tissue from your
foot for tests and stuff to make sure
that you're healthy. You are in pain. Then
you're teething. You're in pain.
You go sick you become sick. You take,
you know, injections.
You're throwing up you have fever and so
on and so forth then you go to
school homework
the biggest pain of all then you go
to college
loans
you finish you look for a job you're
a hustler again you look for a wife
wife hunt begins or husband hunt begins
you're hustling to find the suitable match then
you look for a job you work for
people that you hate
in a job you hate and so on
and so forth
and you have kids
all the fights in life you have there
in in your life then your wife files
for khulah or divorce heart attack you die,
right? So this sums up your life cycle
in this dunya
and once you die, you're now off the
hook there's more hustling you go to the
grave, 3 questions you get
and although every single one of us knows
the answer marraquqmanineukmanabiyyuk
the 3 questions
Wallahi nara everyone will be able to have
to answer the 3 questions
although we know the questions beforehand
then you go on the salat a big
Hasl
some people will fall, some people will continue
and receiving the book with the right hand,
the left hand so it's all a big
test the jannah jahana
so SubhanAllah, khatharakhna bin sanafi kabat right? Your
incandescent
struggle
before birth, after birth, in this dunya, in
the grave, in the hisaab and so on
and so forth. So the only way you
can do it is you trust in Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Whatever comes your way, it
is always good. As Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
says. Wala blukum bishari wal khairifintna
will test you with good and with bad
as he says in the Quran.
So good, He will test you with good
money,
with a good health,
good husband or good wife, good kids, and
so on and so forth.
So some people they fail in the test
and some people will pass the test. So
if you look for example,
someone like,
Yani Fir'awn, he was tested with authority
and Suraymandawood,
Yusuf alayhi m sallam, they were tested with
authority.
They passed,
Fir'awn failed.
Someone like Suleyman alaihis salam he had wealth
Aayub alaihis salam he was wealthy and he
passed the test. Someone like Karun he failed
the test.
So I remember
last year we have, you know, the Mingate
Islamic Academy here and the students I usually
give them talks after Salatul Qur'an Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday. And of course they listen to the
Khuba. But Mondays we dedicate it to questions
and answers. And I get different types of
questions.
So you have kids from grade 1 to
grade 8,
and you expect all sorts of questions.
So good questions that make your day and
terrible questions that make you miserable, right?
Some questions they just give you blood pressure
and heart attacks. So one day I got
this beautiful question and the question was because
the previous day I told them Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala according to the hadith of the
Prophet SAW Allah
Every nation had a prophet.
So we expect that first nations they had
prophets
and other names and so on and so
forth. Every nation received prophets throughout their history.
So the question was how come that the
Quran only mentions 25
prophets?
Like Muhammad SAW and Yusuf Iblayim. These prophets,
25 of them. How come the
124,000
prophets are not mentioned in the Quran?
Their stories are not there in the Quran.
And I told
Bita, the brother who was asking
Imagine
like Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala told us the
stories of 24 plus Muhammad SAW and you
have a 600
404 book like 600 pages.
25 prophets.
Now imagine if you have the stories of
124,000
not every one of them was a messenger.
They had books not all of them.
They might be in the 100 who received
actually books and scriptures and stuff. But the
rest, they were prophets
just to revive the message before.
So imagine if we have 124,000
prophets mentioned in the Quran with their stories.
So it's not a Quran anymore. It's gonna
become something like the, you know, Encyclopedia
Britannica. Something like you have 50 70 volumes.
And the reason Allah
didn't tell us about all of them, Allah
would choose samples of these prophets
just to teach us about the tasks we
take in life
So Adam alayhis salam is a sample for
the task in obedience
namaz salam, tonsil pork, alcohol So this is
our test, right?
Yusuf alaihis salam was tested with siblings rivalry
he was tested with the women who were
busting the moves in the story.
You see for example Musa alaihis salam he
was dealing with political corruption in the form
of foreign financial
corruption
in the form of Ta'aun.
Ibrahim 'alayhi salaam was dealing with different things
and so on and so forth. So every
Prophet was tested in a different way. Shu'ayhi
salaam
his people were the biggest chawr of all
time.
They were so corrupt when it comes to
finances and so on and so forth. So
every Prophet have to deal with a different
test.
Altogether,
they give us the different test we deal
with in our daily lives. Political corruption, financial
corruption,
dealing with your children, your family, and so
on and so forth. The believers, the kufar,
and so on and so forth. So together,
these 25 prophets mentioned in the Quran, they
give you the different tasks we go through
in life. So and therefore,
Allah
didn't have to tell us about all of
them. So all we have is enough to
live a decent life
as a Muslim when it comes to power,
authority, money, family, and so on and so
forth.
So now, we mentioned a couple of examples
why God things happened to us in dunya
last time. So today, inshallah, we'll mention a
couple more.
And number 3,
in addition to the 2 we mentioned last
week, Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala brings you back
to Him in 2 different ways.
Imma billata ifirahhsan,
aww bisalasilimtihan
So Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala would either give
you
niyaam blessings
so much that you feel overwhelmed.
You look at yourself in the mirror, subhanAllah.
I have eyes, I can see. I have
ears, I can hear. I have feet, I
can walk. You Allah. I have a wife
or I have a husband, I have kids.
Oh, this is amazing. So when you feel
overwhelmed
with the nirma of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
you are one of the chosen few.
Because as we mentioned last time, there are
so many people in this world, they either
don't have a good health, they don't have
a family, they don't have money, they don't
have a job, you're actually one of the
chosen few. So once you have this nirmah
of tadabur,
the Allah is showering you with the favors
that you know of or those you don't
know of, you will feel compelled
to thank Allah
Or the other way, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
will send bad things your way to bring
you back.
How many times
when someone, mashAllah, they have good health, good
money, everything is fantastic around them,
they turn their back on Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala Inna Insanal laiha wa'ala
ahuastal
Why do they need a life? You have
everything. Why do you need them? Some people
think this way
And some of them told me the reason
I started to pray or come back to
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala because I had an
accident,
or I saw one of my friends die
in an accident, or I went to the
hospital for a surgery, or someone ended up
in jail. Now they come back to Islam,
or they come back to Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala. So Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala would be
sending these things your way to bring you
back.
Right? So we should accept both as a
good thing from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and
we should be grateful for both. The problem
is when good things happen to you, you
totally forget about Allah
But you only whine and complain if bad
things happen.
So this reminds me of a story I
mentioned last year in Ramadan.
It's an experiment that a person did. So
what he did basically for 3 days he
lives in the in the 3rd floor in
an apartment building. So for 3 days he
was throwing money out of his window.
And the money landed on the, you know,
in the street. So he would throw 20
bucks, 50 bucks, 10 bucks, a 100 bucks
for 3 days
just to see people's reactions.
So what he noticed,
people never looked up. They just pick up
the money and they move on.
But he realized on the 4th day and
for the next 2 days, he was throwing
garbage from the window.
And when the garbage landed in the street,
people pick up the garbage. What is this?
Aqisat o Mushkalei. And they start yelling and
shouting and cussing
at whoever is throwing the garbage.
Some some of us do it this way.
So I remember the story of someone, you
know, they had a kid, 10 years old,
passed away, and they were whining for years.
You Allah, why my kid? Everyone asks kids,
why did you take my kid? You know,
if something bad happened, they questioned Allah
So when you have the kid for 10,
12 years, you never said Alhamdulillah.
Now when your kid is taken away from
you, now you're questioning
Allah and blaming him for whatever happened to
you.
This also reminds me of a person, those
of you,
who follow,
tennis,
back in the 19 seventies eighties. I know
most of you do cricket, but tennis some
of you do.
There's a person by the name of Arthur
Ashe. He's an American
an African American.
He won the American Open, and also the
Australian Open, and he also won Wimbledon in
1975.
And He became the first African American to
do so and he was very popular.
So in tennis, in the 19 seventies, Arthur
Ashe was like Muhammad Ali for boxing. Very
popular. People loved him. He was very charismatic.
So what happened?
Before he passed away in 1993,
he had AIDS. And the reason was he
had to go for a surgery
and they gave him like, you know, contaminated
blood. He had to receive blood and there
was blood, you know, like AIDS in the
blood and and this is how he got
AIDS. So he people, because they loved him
so much, they start to send letters of
support and sympathy.
And one letter stood stood stood out. So
in that letter, the person was complaining,
why you?
Out of the millions of people in the
world, why did God, you know, choose you
to die this way with AIDS?
This is not fair. So this is the
essence of the letter that he received. And
he actually
took time to write a response for the
person, and the letter became famous.
So in that letter he said,
there are 50,000,000 people in the world who
are interested in tennis.
Only 5,000,000
of them actually play tennis.
50,000 of them play professionally.
And 5,000,
they,
they end up competing professionally,
for tournaments.
And of those 5,000,
50 of them compete for the Wimbledon. And
this is like the highest,
tournament or the biggest trophy or tournament that
people compete for. And he said for those
50 individuals who compete for the Wimbledon trophy,
4 individuals will make it to the semifinals,
and only 2 will make it to the
finals.
And only 1 of the 2 who compete
in the finals will carry the trophy.
I was that person in 1975
when I carried the trophies, Wimbledon trophy? And
he said when I was carrying the trophy,
it never came to my mind
to think about the 50,000,000,
the 5,000,000,
the 50, and the 4, and so on
and so forth. I'm the one. I'm carrying
the trophy. That's it. He said now
when I contracted Eid, I'm not in a
position to ask Allah, why did you choose
me
for this?' Just like I didn't ask him,
why did you choose me to carry the
trophy?' I'm not in a position.
I say thank you for the good, and
I say thank you for the bad.
So, by looking at these examples, we realize
that Allah will
send things your way, good and bad, to
bring you back to Him. So we should
always say, alhamdulillah, for everything. If you say,
alhamdulillah, for the good, Allah will write you
among the grateful.
If you say Alhamdulillah for whatever bad thing
that happens to you Allah will write you
among the patient
ones.
And either way you'll be getting their word
as the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said
in the hadith of Islam Muslim ajabal i'mal
mumin and you know the hadith.
The last thing for today
Everyone claims to be a good Muslim.
Everyone around you, the people you work with,
the people you study with, the people you
do business with, they claim to be your
best loyal friends.
How do you know if they are loyal
to you or they are just faking because
they're making some financial gain with you? And
that's it.
We have seen it like in many examples.
I know. I do counsel it all the
time. Like the brother or the sister, they're
healthy,
and they're happy. And once they, you know,
they go bankrupt or they lose their health,
something bad happens. The other side will fight
for divorce.
They will fight for divorce. So they didn't
love you in the 1st place. They they
they they were with you because they were
getting something from you.
And I know people, they tell me if
I file for bankruptcy or I lose my
money all of a sudden the people I
was with everyday
all of a sudden they lost my phone
number. They're not talking to me. They're not
answering my calls.
Why?
Because they were not your friends to start
with. So Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is sending
these things your way. Liamiz Allahu kabeethamilatayb.
So
Allah will tell you who is good and
who is not. Right? So it is your
way of refining
your friends.
If you look at the stories of
Let's say,
Ayub
People were with him
in the 1,000, they were around him, they
were benefiting from his generosity
and so on and so forth. When he
became sick, you know the story better than
me, eventually only 3 people were left with
him. His wife
and 2 good friends. The rest,
they ran away from him and they told
him don't come close to us but what
about the money I used to give you
I used to take care of all the
don't worry about it just get out of
here right? And if you look at the
story of Yusuf 'alayhis salam his own brothers
when,
Yusuf were his assistants they told them brothers
of Yusuf bring your brother Benjamin
and we'll give you food extra food
when they spoke to their father they said
Arsilmana
akhan
will you please send our beloved brother with
us?
But later in the story when Benjamin was
accused of theft they said Your
son stole, your son is a chore.
I thought two lines before you were saying
our beloved brother now your son he's not
your brother anymore you know so because they
had something to gain from it
and the stories go on and on there
are so many different stories in the Quran
If you look at the example of Muhammad
SAWS Alaihi Wasallam.
If you look when the Qibla was changed
or the story of Aisha radiAllahu an and
Surat An Nur or
the Isra and Mi'raj it tells us that
some stood up for the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam. They were loyal to him, but
some their faith was shaken.
And this was Allah's way to show the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam who is really
with you
and who is against you. So this is
also a good way, one of the good
reasons why bad things happen to us. So
at the end of the day, we ask
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to give us the
best in this life and the best in
the life to come, so all along.