Navaid Aziz – Living A Life Of Optimism
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My dear brothers and sisters,
Abdul Abdul Harith radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu he narrates
that whenever he saw the Prophet
he always saw him smiling.
He always saw him smiling.
And I find this hadith very fascinating because
if you look at the life of the
prophet
it's actually filled with a lot of catastrophe,
hardship, and calamity.
From a very young age, the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam's father passes away. A few
years later, his mother passes away. He's in
the care of his grandfather, and he too
passes away. He grows older and he finds
the first love of his life, Khadija
She bears 6 children for him. And not
only does Khadija Radiallahu ta'ala Anha pass away,
but all of his children with the exception
of Fatima Radiallahu ta'ala Anha too passes away.
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam had one main
defender
amongst the Quraysh, his uncle Abu Talib.
And he loved him dearly, subhanallah.
He wanted what was best for him. He
tried his utmost best to help him accept
Islam
as much as he
could. Not only
did he pass away,
but he passed away on other than Islam.
The prophet
no longer has support in Mecca,
so he goes to Ta'if seeking help over
there.
And these people were so belligerent that not
only did they reject the message of Islam,
but they taught their children to curse the
prophet
and pelt him till he passes out in
his own blood.
Finally, Allah
commands him to migrate to Madinah.
And in Madinah,
there are people that are there already. There
are tribes that are there already. And he
establishes a treaty with them and tells them
that we will defend Madinah collectively together. It
is our communal obligation
to do so.
But when the time came,
not only did they betray the prophet
and not defend, but rather they attack the
prophet
as well.
You look at a life like this and
you think,
where do you find the optimism? Where do
you find the positivity?
And what I wanna share with you today
is that the external world
around you can be burning
and it can be in chaos.
But if you have a deep understanding of
who Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is,
you'll always find a way to radiate optimism
and positivity
even if it's just through a smile like
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam used to
do.
They narrate from the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam.
The
narrator, the prophet
said that your lord
is the most bashful, and he is the
most generous.
And he becomes even more bashful when the
slave raises their hands to Allah
raises their hands to Allah. Allah
becomes even more bashful
that he should leave those hands empty handed
without having given the slave that which they
asked for.
When you look at such a hadith that
our lord subhanahu wa ta'ala, our creator, our
sustainer, the one that gives us everything,
becomes shy in front of us when we
raise our hands. Allahu Akbar. How can you
ever despair?
I want us to understand this hadith on
a much deeper level.
The prophet
he starts this hadith by saying
that indeed you are lord.
Meaning that you should have a very close
relationship with
Allah In fact, one of the companions came
to the prophet
and he asks him
That, oh, messenger of Allah, is our Lord
far away that we need to call out
to him?
Or is he close that we can have
a intimate conversation
with him?
And that is when Allah revealed
That when my slave asks you about me,
I am near.
Allah
is always close to his slave. Allah is
always near to his slave.
And that is why the messenger of Allah
wants us to understand
that indeed your lord.
It's not a lord for someone else. It
is not Allah
alone, but this is your lord, your provider,
your
caretaker.
He is the most bashful. He is the
most shy.
He says that bashfulness and modesty is that
characteristic
that inspires every other good characteristic.
The messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
he says every religion has a trait and
characteristic,
and their trait and characteristic of this religion
is bashfulness and modesty.
The prophet, he
says, that iman
is some 60 or 70 odd categories.
Its highest level is the actualization of and
its lowest level is to remove something harmful
from the pathway.
And bashfulness and modesty is a branch from
the branches of faith.
And he goes on to further explain that
what ties this hadith altogether
is bashfulness and modesty.
That the actualization of
can only be done once you recognize who
your creator is and what your relationship is
with your creator,
one to worship them.
And then what removes something hard from from
the pathway is your bashful and modesty
that just like you would not want to
be harmed by something, you can't allow it
for your brother as well. So that bashfulness
and modesty in front of Allah
who is constantly watching you is what
motivates you to remove something harmful from the
pathway
itself.
We often translate it as the most generous.
But in the context of this hadith,
is the one that gives you more than
you want.
Al Kareem is the one that gives you
even before you ask, and Al Kareem is
the one that gives you even better than
you ask for.
So every single time when you ask Allah,
these three things are instantaneously
and automatically happening.
He's giving you before you ask, he's giving
you better than you ask for, and he's
giving you more than you ask for.
In fact, one of the days, the prophet
was encouraging his companions
to make dua.
And this will summarize the whole hadith that
we've been discussing.
And he's telling them increase in making dua
for surely Allah
hears your dua and answers it.
He will either give you what you want,
when you want it, or will delay it
till a time that it is better for
you, or in fact, what you're asking for
is not good for you.
So when you look at these three scenarios,
what you're asking for,
and you get it when you want it,
as you want it, you would think that
this is the ideal case scenario.
But I want us to understand as our
predecessors has said
that if you were to get what you
want when you want it,
who would be the master and who would
be the slave? And
I believe this is a very important point
to understand. If you were to get what
you want when you wanted it, who would
be the master and who would be the
slave?
We are the slaves of Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala, and we are supposed to beckon to
his every call and respond to him as
quickly as we can.
As for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, our creator,
our master, our sustainer,
then if he responds to us, it is
out of his generosity, kindness, and mercy.
And you'll see that Allah
never short changes his slaves.
That there are opportunities where we do raise
our hands and we get what we want
right away.
Number 2,
you get what you want, but at a
time where it is better for you. A
brother has been struggling to get a job.
He's been making dua. He's been networking. He's
been, you know, upscaling his skill set.
Yet the time still hasn't come. What's happening?
Allah
knows that this brother hasn't learned to manage
his time yet. In terms of taking care
of his parents, taking care of his wife
and kids, taking care of his community obligations.
And when this brother does get it down,
then inshallah, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives him
that job. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wanted him
to increase in his reward of continuously making
dua.
And on top of that,
Allah
granted him the job when it was right
for him so that he could learn balance
in his life.
And in category number 3 was what you're
asking for is not good for you. So
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala averts an equal amount
of evil from your life.
The example of this is a brother that
works a corporate job. He's eyeing this corner
office. He wants that promotion. He keeps making
dua, keeps trying his utmost best at work,
but it's just not happening.
Allah
knows that if this brother got that corner
office and got that promotion,
that perhaps his brother would start missing Jummah.
He would start neglecting his family. He would
start neglecting his deen. He would start neglecting
his obligations.
So Allah
keeps him where he's at,
but he continues to reward him and continues
to avert an equal amount of evil from
his life.
Ibn al Qayim rahimahullah, he says that there
are hadith that alludes to the fact that
people will show up on the day of
judgment, and they will have mountains of reward.
And they will ask Allah that, oh, Allah,
where did these mountains of reward come from?
We don't remember doing any such good deeds
that could have incurred such a reward.
And Allah
tells them
that this is the reward
of the patience you showed when you made
du'a,
yet it went unanswered in the way that
you wanted it.
Now what do you think these people say?
Do you think these people say that, oh,
Allah, we don't feel right. We wanna go
back to the dunya and answer du'a. We
don't want what you have over here. Of
course not.
In fact, these people respond by saying that,
oh Allah, we wish none of our duas
in this world were answered.
That is how great the reward of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala is.
So now to conclude the hadith, when the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam told the companions
these three ways that their duas are answered,
they responded by saying, you Rasulullah, if this
is the case, we'll only increase in making
du'a. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's messenger salallahu
alayhi wa sallam says,
and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has more to
give you. The more you ask, the more
you get from
Allah So in this one main hadith that
we were discussing,
that your lord is the most bashful and
the most shy, and he is the most
generous, and he becomes even more bashful when
the slave raises their hands to Allah
that he should return them empty handed without
having giving them that which they asked for.
If you understand this hadith in its totality,
that you have a no lose situation with
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
That as long as you are calling out
to Allah, you will never lose.
You'll either get what you want when you
want it or at a time that it
is better for you or what you're asking
for is not good for you. So Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala averse an equal amount of
evil from your life and rewards you generously
in the hereafter.
Would you not be permeating
positivity?
Would you not be inspiring
optimism?
Of course, you would. But what ends up
happening is that our day to day lives
tends to make us forget this reality
that the believers have
Allah by their side.
Shaitan
makes us forget
that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is only a
call away. And when you call out to
Allah, things will always work out even better
than you expect them to be. We just
failed to realize.
And that is my hypothesis as to how
the prophet
was always radiating optimism and positivity
due to his deep understanding who Allah
was. And if we can understand Allah
even at a fraction of that level,
this will drastically
change our outlook in life. May Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala grant us the faith and understanding.
My dear brothers and sisters, our topic of
discussion for today
is how the prophet
radiated such positivity
in his life, such that he was always
seen smiling or regularly seen smiling.
And we share the hypothesis
that it was his deep understanding of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala based upon one hadith out
of many.
That the prophet
said that your lord is the most bashful
and the most generous.
And he becomes even more bashful when the
slave raises their hands to Allah that he
should return them empty handed without having given
that which the slave asked
for. To proceed, my dear brothers and sisters,
let me get to my conclusion.
These are dark and difficult times.
Everyday you read something new that is happening.
You know, just yesterday, I was reading about
how
individuals that use Microsoft
were losing their accounts just for keeping in
touch with their family members.
And every day, something new is happening.
And Chetan wants you to feel disheartened.
Chetan wants you to give up. Shaitan wants
you to feel sad and depressed to the
degree that you are paralyzed and can no
longer do more.
But Allah
he wants effort from us.
He does not want from us to change
the condition of the world. He does not
want us to guarantee victory that is beyond
us. That cannot be expected of us. But
what Allah
wants from us is to keep on going.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, he tells us that
whoever continues to strive in the way of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
That their effort will be greatly appreciated by
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in this life and
the next.
So what I conclude with my dear brothers
and sisters,
we often have choices to make.
We can be sad, we can be depressed,
we can give up,
or
we can learn to navigate these emotions and
reframe what's happening in the world that Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala is testing us. And if
we are patient and we continue to work
hard, not only does Allah
reward us and forgive us and increase our
ranks in paradise,
but that is how Allah
changes the state of the ummah
when each individual accepts accountability for their own
selves to keep on moving forward.
There are days where you will naturally feel
down. That is inevitable.
And we have a communal obligation
to lift each other up.
You know someone's feeling down? Check-in on them.
Call them. Visit them. Take them out for
coffee.
And you will see that those 8 minutes,
8 minutes is often all a person needs
to uplift their spirits just to know that
someone cares for them. And if we can
do that for one another, my dear brothers
and sisters, I have no doubt that this
ummah can change the world.
But what needs to happen is we need
to start thinking beyond our own selves.
Start thinking about our community members. Often those
that are on the fringes that we may
not know, that we may not see regularly,
but there's still an integral part of our
community.
And that is what made the ummah of
the prophet
so unique at his time was this genuine
deep love that they had for one another.
So when you see someone down,
rather than sharing your sorrows with them, find
a way to radiate optimism just by sharing
a smile, asking how they're doing, and making
dua for them. And you'll notice that that
alone will inspire positivity in their lives and
grant them the ability
to keep going.
My dear brothers and sisters, one point that
I wanna conclude with
is that I'm here today on behalf of
Miftah Institute,
an institute that focuses on producing hafad, those
that memorize the Quran.
And there will be a brother outside
that will be collecting donations to help sponsor
these hafa.
On average, it takes about $5,000
to take care of all the needs of
one of the hafad that is staying on
campus. Just $5,000.
So for those of you that are able
to sponsor a hafid completely or even partially,
please donate generously.
And this can be our effort in making
the world a better place. For surely, with
every hafa that we produce,
every individual that has memorized the speech of
Allah and the book of Allah
surely, they can go on to do great
things.
My dear brothers and sisters,
times are tough, but together we will get
through it. With the help of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala and his Tawfiq,
following the example of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam, and deepening our