Nadim Ali – Facing Calamities.
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AI: Transcript ©
In one translation,
indeed all praise belongs to Allah, the most
high. We thank him and we seek his
aid and we seek his forgiveness,
and we seek refuge with him from the
evil of ourselves and from our bad actions.
Whoever Allah guides, then there's no one who
can mislead him and whoever Allah calls to
go astray,
there's no one to guide
him. I bear witness that there is no
deity except Allah who is unique and without
partners and I bear witness that Muhammad is
his worshipper and his messenger and may the
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him
and his family and his companions
and those who follow them with good intentions
until the day of judgment.
All you who believe fear Allah as he
should be feared and don't die except as
Muslims. Again, all you who believe fear Allah
and don't die except as Muslims.
And oh mankind be careful of your duty
to your Rabb who created you from a
single soul and from it created its mate.
And from the 2 of them he spread
forth many men and women.
Be careful of your duty to Allah whom
you demand your mutual rights and be careful
of your duty to the wounds that bore
you. Indeed,
Allah is our word akhib over you.
All you who believe, fear Allah and always
speak the truth. He will cause your deeds
to be beneficial
and he will forgive for you your sins
and whoever obeys Allah and his messenger, then
it's truly achieved
a tremendous accomplishment.
Indeed, the best speech is the book of
Allah and the best guidance is the guidance
of Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam and the most
evil of all affairs are newly invented matters
which has no precedence in Islam. And indeed,
all innovations are astray
and each astray is in the hellfire and
oh Allah, save us from it. And oh,
Allah
accept our du'a.
And when we look at this particular
du'a, the,
kutbah Hajjah,
really, that's enough
If we wanted to be
led on the right path, if we wanted
to be righteous Muslim, just reading that opening,
which throughout the Muslim world, this opening is
read. It's enough, brothers and sisters.
Just like
as a sheikh talked about, how Imam Sha'athi,
Rahim Allah said that if Jes Surat Asa
was revealed,
that was enough.
If we wanted to be on the right
path.
But the bottom line is we're not reading,
we're not studying,
we're not internalizing
this deen.
We're externalizing
the deen.
We wanna look a certain way,
but there has to be
a reformation of character. When many of us
came into Islam in the sixties seventies,
Islam changed the character.
And now we have characters in Islam
Islam wearing the title of Muslim.
And so we have to
not wear the title,
but we have to
earn what we feel is the way we're
entitled
to.
Because Allah, as he says, he does not
change the condition of people until they change
what is in their hearts.
And the prophet
said, no, that everything will rust. Even the
heart will rust.
And that which removes the rest from the
heart and the is the remembrance of Allah
Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
The remembrance of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. And
so if we're engaging in all sorts of
ills and haram behaviors,
are we remembering Allah at that time? Because
every waking moment
should be a moment of remembrance of Allah.
It doesn't mean you have to be in
the mosque 247.
You know, if you're getting in your car,
if you're driving, if you're on a journey,
you remember Allah.
When you wake up, you remember Allah. When
you go to sleep, you remember Allah. When
you walk into the bathroom, you remember. When
you step out, you remember.
And so, it's basically
just internalizing
this deen so that it is a part
of your entire being.
This is what we as Muslims have to
start
internalizing,
brothers and sisters,
specifically for our new brothers and sisters who
have come into the deen, have taken the
shahada. That's just the beginning. That's just the
beginning of this journey.
And so you have to spend time to
learn
the basics of salat and learn this deen
so that when you are faced with the
trial,
it won't throw you off. It won't throw
you out of this deen.
When someone comes to you with something that's
inconsistent with Islam,
then you'll be able to challenge that.
So it's important for you to learn the
basics, get a good foundation and then you
can build on that foundation
as opposed to having what we used to
call an oatmeal foundation, a weak foundation,
because if you build something on oatmeal, it's
gonna collapse.
And so you wanna build your Islam on
concrete, brothers and sisters. These are some of
the things that we have to look at
as to how we can continue to grow
not only as a ummah, not only as
a community, but as individual Muslims and Muslimers.
Allah says,
and of the people is he who worships
Allah on the edge
As if he is touched by good,
he is reassured by it.
But if he is struck by a trial,
he turns on his face to the other
direction.
He has lost this world and the hereafter.
That is what that is the manifest loss,
and that's, you know, from what the law
says. You know, if you're touched with a
trial, if you're if you weaken your iman
and weaken your faith, then you're touched with
the trial, you go the other way.
You go in reverse.
So it's important to strengthen that so when
you're faced with any type of trial or
calamity,
then we'll be able to handle this because
again, as Muslims,
we have to have the proper attitude
towards calamities.
You know, again, Allah,
he has created us
and so when he desires
to take any one of us,
it's it's by his will.
And we have to look at the fact
that we've been keeping monitoring what's been going
on
in in in Turkey and in Syria.
And at last count, they say over 20,000
people have been lost. 20,000 people have been
lost.
And we have to be empathetic towards them
and many of those people are Muslim. Many
of those people are Muslim.
And when we hear of a calamity, what
do we say? Just like when you hear
of a death.
From Allah we come surely to Allah is
our return.
And we have
to recognize that
that could have been us.
You know, many of us have personal tragedies
in our lives,
but if we have a healthy relationship with
Allah
then what we can do is we can
weather the trial. We can weather the trial
no matter what the trial is because as
long as you have breath in your body,
you have to worship Allah.
You have to worship Allah.
And you have to ask yourself, what is
my lesson in this loss?
If you're faced with the trial,
you know, just like you know, I've heard
brothers
and sisters say,
prison saved my life.
Prison saved my life and I know people
don't like hearing that.
Prison saved my life
because
in prison,
you know, you
are with your thoughts.
The great sheikh said that if you put
me in prison,
you put me in solitude with my lord.
If you basically expel me from the land,
you put me on the path of Dawah.
If you kill me,
then you give me the gift of martyrdom.
And
so,
if you weren't in that situation,
because you you will see,
people who you associate it with how either
they be killed physically or be killed mentally.
And what I mean killed mentally and spiritually
is that they're lost. They're sleeping under bridges.
They they're talking to themselves. They're talking to
people who are not even there.
Many of the people that that I grew
up with,
you know, are in that condition. Some of
them have come to Islam. Most of the
people that I grew up with came to
Islam are in a healthy state. Those that
didn't come to Islam, many of them are
in unhealthy states but many people have been
lost.
And so specifically for our young brothers and
sisters,
as the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam says
that having good friends is like having the
perfume merchant as your friend.
They smell good and that's that good that
that good smell will rub off on you.
And if you have the bad friends, it's
like having the blacksmith as your friend.
They smell bad and that bad smell will
rub off on you. And what grandma say,
birds of a feather flock together.
So we have to choose associates
that going to encourage us to remember Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala
so that when we're faced with a trial,
we're able to weather that trial in a
healthy fashion.
The prophet said,
the greatest reward comes with the greatest trial.
When Allah loves a people, he tests them.
Whoever accepts that wins his pleasure, but whoever
is discontent
with that earns his wrath.
If you accept it, you win the pleasure
of Allah, but when you reject it, you
earn the wrath.
And again, so when we hear of the
loss, we again, do the from Allah we
come and surely to Allah is our return,
you know, as opposed to being stuck
in the the mentality of those who cling
to this earth.
You know,
the people
in Turkey and Syria have have, again, experienced
this, a tremendous loss,
you know, but we have to
be of those who recognize
that loss,
in many instances, may be the gain. Just
like when we have a face with a
storm, what what is the dua that we
make?
Oh, Allah,
you know, protect us from the wrath of
the storm and give us the goodness of
the storm because just like the storm,
it brings the rain and the rain will
basically cultivate the earth so that we get
plants that grow from it and so from
the losses
in that part of the world, something may
grow from that, some good may come from
that and that's and that's in the unknown.
That's in the realm of the unknown, but
as Muslims, we have to believe that and
we have to accept that.
And what I would like to do after
we make the Hajjummasala, I'd like to make,
you know, salat al janaza for the people
who were lost and there are many, masajids
that throughout this area is gonna be doing
that today inshallah.
Hassan
al Basriem
Rahim Allah said, do not resent calamities
that come
and that and the disasters that occur.
For perhaps
in something that you dislike
will be your salvation,
and perhaps
in something that you prefer
will be your doom.
And we have to
face the calamities
with patience and perseverance
as sheikh Khalifa mentioned in recently in the
kutba, he says that we have to reflect
on the
to Asa. And again, one translation, by the
token of time, verily man is lost except
those that have faith and do righteous deeds
and enjoin together in the mutual teachings of
truth
and of patience and constancy.
We have to be of those who
show much mercy. If I've said any things
as inconsistent with upon him, has role modeled
or real modeled for us, I take responsibility
for that. And if I've said anything in
which you have gained some new insight, as
always, all praise belongs to Allah.
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam also said,
show mercy
and you will be shown mercy.
Again, when we show the mercy, we will
receive mercy from the most merciful.
We have to again start actualizing
Islam
instead of practicing
Islam.
Practice time is over, brothers and sisters. We
in it. We in it. Many of
the the issues
and calamities that the prophet, peace be upon
him, talked about
1400 years ago, over 1400 years ago are
coming into fruition and so we have to
be more mindful
of our deen
and not just, you know, just be
inconsistent in
our practice, in our approach to Islam.
You know, we're facing many of the realities
that were predicted by the prophet peace be
upon him.
Also the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said, again,
those who show mercy will be shown mercy
by the merciful and show mercy
to those who are on earth
and the one who is in heaven again
will show mercy to you,
Sahih Hadid. So again, when we hear of
these disasters, let us be patient
and merc and merciful
and may Allah
heal the people who are left behind
in in Syria
and in in Turkey.
And again,
any loss
is an expiation of sin.
Just like if someone steal even when someone
steals from us, it's an expiation of sin.
They they will get that amount of sin
that based on the the the weight of
what you took. If you took a lump
of gold, whatever that gold is worth, that
sin is quantified
and you earn that sin when you steal
from people.
And so as Muslims, we should not be
stealing. We should not be stealing from one
another because when
you Because when you steal something physical, you're
gonna get
a detrimental, spiritual consequence and that's what you
have to really look at. And,
but we have to basically start to shape
our hearts to start believing
that, to start believing that, to be part
of our hearts to start believing that. To
start believing that, to be part of the,
not only Muslim society,
but also to contribute to the overall society
because we live in a pluralistic society here.
You know, we choose to live here.
You know, some people cannot practice Islam in
this type of society
because if you turn on the computer, you
turn on the television, we're bombarded with all
sorts of images that are totally inconsistent with
Islam.
And if you're weak in faith, then what
happens?
You can get poured into that dunya. You
can get poured into
the depths of the dunya.
And so we have to continuously
be be be strengthened
and develop a program so that we can
create an armor or a force field,
a barrier
between the ignorance that is pervasive in the
society
and the enlightenment
in which Islam
gives us that we can reflect onto the
world.
Abu Bakr
said that the messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam said, afflictions, diseases,
and sadness
in the world are recompense for sins.
When Allah again wills good for his slave,
he hastens punishment for him in this world.
And when Allah wills ill for his slave,
he withholds the punishment
for his sins
from him until he comes with all of
his sins on the day of judgment.
And again, so we have to start viewing
calamities
from an Islamic perspective and not to view
them as from a worldly perspective.
Narrated,
Salamah, read it at the end.
I heard the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam said, there is no Muslim who
is stricken with a calamity and says
what Allah has enjoined.
Verily to Allah we belong and unto him
is our return. Oh Allah, reward me for
my affliction and compensate me with something better,
but Allah will compensate him or them with
something better.
Again,
we
have to know what's on the other side
of the barzakh, the barrier between life and
death because true life begins at that point
and see,
many people,
you know, they are blinded to this fact
and so that's why you see people engaging
in all sorts of ignorance. They're blinded
and the law talks about the suman, bokman,
umyan, the deaf, dumb, and blind, and and
some of the scholars say that, that that
particular
ayat is talking about the spiritually deaf, the
spiritually dumb, and the spiritually blind,
you know, because they can see physically,
but they can't see spiritually and see when
Allah invites you to this deen,
allows you to stay in this deen,
you develop a vision that's different from the
vision of other people.
And so we are the ones who can
see.
And so if we can see,
you know, just like when you're in the
airport, they say if you see something, say
something.
You know?
In Islam, if you see something, you wanna
say something. If you see your brother or
sister doing something that's inconsistent with the deen,
then you have to say something.
Sheikh al Islam Ibn Tamir
Rahim Allah.
He says that a calamity makes you turn
to Allah.
A calamity that makes you turn to Allah
is better for you than a blessing
that makes you forget
the remembrance of Allah and marinate on that.
Marinate on that. You just you have people
who seek riches
and
can't make it to fudge.
Seek riches
and not
basically good to their families.
Seek riches
and not willing to be generous with the
riches.
So we have to be of those
who are striving
to be the best Muslims that we could
possibly be.
And again, if I've said anything in which
you have gained some enlightenment, you know, it's
not from me. All praise is due to
Allah and if I've made any mistakes, all
the mistakes
are mine
and as after we finished the,
Salata Juma, we went to make the Janaza,
Salata Janaza for the people who were lost
in
Syria and Turkey.
But also,
you know, we would like to,
be able to be generous, you know, with
with them as well. And so,
you know, these are some of the things
that we have to look at and, we'll
talk about that a little bit later inshallah.
Our Lord take us not to task if
we forget or fall into error.
Our lord, lay not on us a burden
such as you did lay on those who
have gone before us.
Our lord, lay not on us a burden
which we do not have the power to
bear and overlook our faults and forgive us
and have mercy on us. You are our
protector and grant us the victory over the
disbelieving people.
And so, before we,
you know, start this a lot, just want
to,
you know, again,
we want to make a significant donation to
the people of Syria and Turkey. And so
I would like I sent on behalf of
the community a $100.
I'd like to really make it a $1,000.
And so the monies that we contribute
today will go towards that. And so
can
brothers and sisters make a commitment and can
raise your hands and see if you, you
know, if they can match that $100, you
have 1,
2, 3, 4.
Sisters, I I see y'all.
Sick something. So I think we got it,
and and if you if you wanna be
of those who give quietly, give quietly. So
give above and beyond
today and so we're gonna send, as part
from the community and you will get the
reward for that. You know, even if you
only have a few dollars, you know, be
able
to contribute whatever you can and you get
a piece of that. Inshallah.
He coming, miss Huddl.