Nouman Ali Khan – Are Hardships My Fault or a Test from Allah
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses the physical world and the need for surgery, particularly for people who are in a difficult situation. They emphasize the importance of trusting Allah and not letting people cancel a program. The speaker also talks about their experience of a bacteria infection and the difficulty of managing a situation. They encourage people to go to surgery and cancel a program, emphasizing trusting Allah and not letting people cancel a program. The speaker emphasizes the importance of trusting Allah and not letting people cancel a program.
AI: Summary ©
In the moral world, you missed a Salah,
you woke up late, you didn't pray Fajr,
and now you're praying it late.
And then that day you had a job
interview, and the job interview didn't go well.
And you're like, this is because I missed
Salah.
Now the answer to that is, it may
be, and it may not be.
And there's no way you will ever know.
There's no way you or anyone else will
ever know.
But the thing that will help you is,
The thing that will help me is that
Allah says, I will be as you assume
me to be.
If you're assuming Allah took revenge from you
and put this on you because you missed
Fajr, then that's who Allah is to you
now.
But the thing here that I wanted to
highlight is what is the role of our
iman, the fact that we're believers, that we
believe in Allah عز و جل, and our
ability to deal with calamity.
And how are we supposed to respond to
calamity as believers.
For a lot of people who's, and this
actually depends on our level of understanding of
what it means to have a relationship with
Allah سبحانه وتعالى.
On the one hand, the first thing I'd
like to explain to you that the Qur
'an is very wise about, is to make
a separation between two different kinds of bad
situations.
There's a bad situation that looks like a
bad situation that was completely out of your
control.
You could do nothing about it.
You got stuck in a flood, you didn't
cause the flood.
You just happened to be living there, there
was no way for you to escape, or
you happened to be traveling, you had no
idea it was coming, it wasn't on any
reports or anything else.
That's not you, that's entirely planned by Allah,
you had nothing to do with it, there
was no way you could have gotten out
of it.
This is not the same as someone who
reads the news report and says, hey, there's
a major storm coming, please evacuate the city,
and there's a tsunami heading our way, and
somebody says, you know this is a good
time to check out the beach.
And they head towards the beach.
And then something bad happens to them, they
don't get to say, oh, Qadar Allah, what
can I say, Allah had decided that I
was going to run into this, you don't
get to say that.
And Allah is very clear about that.
He Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says, وَمَا أَصَابَكُم
بِمُصِيبَةٍ فَبِمَا كَسَبَتَ ايْدِيكُمْ There's not a calamity
that strikes you, and any matter of calamities
that strike you, or something that hits you,
is because of what you earned with your
own hands.
You brought this on yourself.
Now, that's, if you only thought of it
that way, that would also be a problem.
Because if you're going down the stairs, and
you slipped and you fell, and you start
thinking to yourself, I must have done some
sin, and that's why Allah made me fall
down the stairs.
This is a sign from Allah that I
have committed some evil, and Allah is teaching
me a lesson by, you know, breaking my
arm on this, in the hotel lobby or
something, you know.
You start reading into things that happened to
you.
And you start thinking there's some ghayb, cause
and effect.
And that can go into an extreme.
So the thing that I'd like to highlight
here, human beings, believers, in Allah, can go
into two extremes.
One extreme is, everything happened because of Allah,
I have nothing to do with it.
Whatever happened, you can't blame me, it's the
qadr of Allah.
ما أصابكم من مصيبةٍ فَبِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ Whatever calamity
strikes to you, it comes to you because
of Allah's...
He said that in Surah At-Taghabun.
He said it directly.
It happens by Allah's permission, this was Allah's
plan, what are you gonna do?
So some student cannot study for their exams,
and not do any of the assignments, and
get fail, and fail, and be kicked out
of the school, and then say, what do
you want me to do?
Qadr of Allah.
They get to blame Allah.
On the other extreme, there is the believer
who blames everything on himself.
Allah is doing this to me because I'm
a terrible person.
This happened to me because I'm a horrible
human being.
It doesn't help when other ignorant people around
you, and sometimes a lot of ignorance comes
from your own family, they come and tell
you, you know why this happened to you?
Because you're a bad daughter.
You know why this happened to you?
Because you're a bad son.
You know why this happened to you?
Because you're not good to your in-laws,
or whatever.
No, I just got in a car accident
because a truck came and hit me, and
he crossed a red light.
That's because I argued with my wife, or
something, that's not the reason.
But other people will come and tell you,
this is happening to you, Allah is doing
this to you, because of that, because of
that.
Like they got an email from the ghayb
that told them, that this is the reason
why this happened, cause and effect.
So there are these two extremes that are
possible.
What does the Qur'an do?
The Qur'an in everything gives us balance.
In everything we understand in life, it gives
us balance.
And by the way, if you don't have
this balance, you lose a lot of peace
in life.
You know, it gives another meaning, By remembering
Allah, hearts become calm.
The ultimate remembrance of Allah, the dhikrullah, is
actually the book of Allah.
And the book of Allah clarifies how Allah
deals with us in this life.
So I would argue that if you're just
saying, subhanAllah, or alhamdulillah, and your understanding of
what Allah wants you to, you know, how
Allah deals with you, is flawed, you still
might not find peace, even though inshallah you
will if you're sincere.
But the intent here is to be clear
in how Allah azzawajal deals with us.
So I'd like to share some things about
that with you.
As far as blaming myself is concerned, and
you know, where do we draw the line
between this is from Allah, and this is
my fault?
Where do you draw that line?
You know, in the physical world, it's very
easy to understand.
What do I mean by the physical world?
In the physical world, if I put, instead
of putting gasoline in my car, I put
water in my car, and it didn't work,
then you don't get, clearly you don't get
to say, this was Allah's plan.
That was you.
So physically speaking, or if you're eating junk
food, and you're constantly eating all kinds of
sugary foods, and then you get a diagnosis
for diabetes at the age of 45, then
you don't get to say, ya Allah, this
mubarak has come to me, it's a test
from Allah.
No, it's a test of your bad appetite.
You don't eat cucumbers.
You eat swiss rolls, or whatever you eat.
You've been downing junk, and that's why this
happened to you.
You understand?
So in the physical world, the cause and
effect, it's something that all human beings with
common sense understand.
In the moral world, you missed a salah.
You woke up late.
You didn't pray fajr.
And now you're praying it late.
And then that day you had a job
interview.
And the job interview didn't go well.
And you're like, this is because I missed
salah.
Now the answer to that is, it may
be, and it may not be.
And there's no way you will ever know.
There's no way you or anyone else will
ever know.
But the thing that will help you is,
The thing that will help me is that
Allah says, I will be as you assume
me to be.
If you're assuming Allah took revenge from you,
and put this on you because you missed
fajr, then that's who Allah is to you
now.
If you assume, no, this job, I tried
my best, I did a good job at
the interview, but this was not a good
job for me.
Had it been good for me, Allah would
have let it go.
Allah would have given me this job.
If you have that attitude, then that is
who Allah is to you, despite all of
your mistakes.
Despite you waking up late.
Our job when we make mistakes is to
make istighfar.
Not wait for Allah's revenge.
Please understand that.
Our job is not, oh, I messed up,
now Allah is going to get me somehow,
it's going to happen.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
That's not what Allah does.
Which is why Allah says, وَمَا أَصَابَكُم بِالْمُصِيبَةِ
فَبِمَا كَسَبَتَيذِكُمْ Whatever calamity struck you, whatever difficulty
you find yourselves in, a lot of it
has to do with what you did yourselves,
with your own hands.
You brought this on yourself.
And even in the spiritual sense, sometimes there
are difficulties that come on us, because of
our deeds.
If you are, for example, continuously horrible to
your parents, and then bad stuff comes to
you in your life, then probably there is
some connection.
And then in those kinds of cases, what
does Allah do?
وَيَعْفُو عَن كَثِيرٍ He says, He pardons a
lot too.
In the physical world, if I jump off
of a second floor building, there are going
to be consequences.
Allah will not say, no, this time I'll
forgive you, I won't break your leg.
No, no, what's gonna happen is gonna happen.
When you put your hand in a fire,
it is gonna burn.
Allah is not gonna, well, you prayed Fajr
this morning, so no, not for you.
It won't burn for you.
That's not gonna happen.
But when it comes to spiritual consequences, He
says, وَيَعْفُو عَن كَثِيرٍ When you do a
sin, then Allah says actually, Allah lets a
lot of it go.
He doesn't just avenge immediately.
He doesn't just take, you know, immediate account
and then make you suffer in this world
because of the mistake you made.
He doesn't do that.
That's the nature of Allah عز و جل
with us.
وَيَعْفُو عَن كَثِيرٍ This is something you have
to internalize for yourself.
I would argue the reason, the reason I
brought up this particular subject is because one
of the greatest crimes, spiritual crimes that occurs
every day in the ummah is at the
hands of loved ones to loved ones.
Parents, spouses, husbands, we have sometimes the most,
the worst things to say to our loved
ones.
And sometimes we say those things in the
name of Allah.
Allah will punish you for what you just
did.
There will be justice on you.
Allah will not forgive what you, you know.
And mother can say that to her child.
Wife can say to husband.
Siblings can say to each other.
Like invoking like Allah is some angry weapon
that you can invoke because you're upset, Allah
must be upset.
And you can just use Allah like that.
That's not our place.
And you know for a lot of people,
they have heard this kind of thing so
many times over and over and over again
that they have become far away from Allah
Himself.
They heard from their loved ones.
A child heard from his father or his
mother all the time.
Allah will punish you if you don't pray.
Allah is going to get you if you
don't pray.
Allah is very angry at you because you
ate that cookie.
Like constantly, Allah is angry, Allah is angry,
Allah is angry.
When that young boy becomes a 16, 17,
18 year old, he wants nothing to do
with Allah.
And when he hears Allah is merciful and
Allah is forgiving, he has a hard time
believing it because that's not what he grew
up with.
He did not grow up with an Allah
who is forgiving or an Allah who is
merciful.
As a matter of fact, every time he
got in trouble it's because of Allah he
got in trouble.
That's how he got in trouble.
And then those same parents say, we taught
this child about Allah from the beginning.
I don't know why he's running away from
deen.
Yeah, but which Allah did you teach him
about?
An angry Allah?
An Allah that seeks to punish?
ما يفعل الله بعذابكم?
Allah says, what's Allah gonna get out of
punishing you?
That's what Allah says himself.
Why is he in just the business of
coming after you?
Going at you?
So what happens with people?
They are in a difficult situation.
And what do they do?
They're constantly thinking Allah is getting them.
Allah is hurting them.
Allah is doing this to them.
You know, I was reminded by a colleague
of mine.
When I was coming here to Malaysia, out
of nowhere, this has never happened.
I developed this crazy bacterial infection thing in
my tonsils.
And it swelled up.
And half of my neck was completely blocked.
And I felt like I was drowning in
one nostril.
And I'm still on the plane.
And I get halfway to Abu Dhabi on
the way here.
I run over to a clinic.
They say, you have to take these heavy
medications.
I come here.
The recommendation is I should go to surgery.
I was like, what is going on?
And they even told me this never happens.
Like this is really crazy.
In my entire career of 30 years, I've
seen like one other case of this.
And I'm lying there in the hospital bed,
waiting for a surgery to take place.
And I'm thinking, and I was reminded by
a colleague.
This is the best place you could have
been.
There's no better place than this hospital bed
for you at this moment.
That is Allah's plan for you.
Here I am thinking I have to cancel
this program.
I can't go over here.
I can't go over there.
How are we gonna manage this situation, that
situation, that calendar, that meeting.
I came all this way and now look,
I didn't get to do this, that or
the other.
And then all of a sudden just that
little reminder.
I was just like, yeah.
This is the best place I should be.
There's no better place.
Because this wasn't planned by me.
This was planned by Allah.
This is entirely planned by Allah.
We have to have a closeness to Allah
that when He plans something for you and
me, even when it's painful, He doesn't do
it for anything except love.
That Allah Azza wa Jal loves His Ibad.
That He loves what is best for them.
He loves us more than we could ever
love ourselves.
He cares more for us than we could
ever care for ourselves.
He provides us more than we could ever
provide for ourselves.
When we forget that, guidance goes away.
Allah says, وَمَن يُؤْمِن بِاللَّهِ يَهْدِي قَلْبَهُ وَمَن
يُؤْمِن بِاللَّهِ يَهْدِي قَلْبَهُ On the same issue,
whatever calamity strikes you, it comes from Allah,
it came by Allah's permission, and whoever can
have Iman in Allah at that time.
You have Iman in Allah anyway, you believe
in one God, but when you're in a
difficulty, that's when you start questioning, why is
Allah doing this, right?
That's the time when Allah puts the words,
وَمَن يُؤْمِن بِاللَّهِ Whoever can truly believe in
Allah then.
Yeah, you always say Allah is Ar-Rahman,
but do you really feel Allah is Ar
-Rahman right now?
Nah, right now He's probably Dhuntiqam.
Right now He's probably the one who takes
revenge.
Right now He's probably Jabbar, not Ar-Rahman
right now.
See, your Iman went away, your Iman in
Ar-Rahman went away when you were in
difficulty.
Allah says if you can have Iman in
Ar-Rahman at that time, the best of
Allah's names, the best of what Allah is
to you, what He described Himself to you,
at that moment, then what gift will Allah
give you?
And this is the conclusion to my khutbah,
what is it that Allah will give you?
I want health, I want recovery, I want
a job, I want money, I want a
better family situation, I want escape.
Some people just want escape.
I just want this other person to stop
hurting me.
I want people to stop talking about me.
Whatever it is, there's something that's bothering you,
and it's eating away at you.
And if you think if that problem went
away, you would have peace.
What does Allah give you when you can
trust Him?
He doesn't end your problems.
This life, problems will not go away.
If problems were gonna go away, they would
have gone away for Yaqub a.s. a
lot sooner than for you and me.
If no problems would have come, because we
have iman, then Maryam a.s. should not
have had problems.
Rasulullah a.s. should not have had problems.
You study the people that are closest to
Allah, and all you're studying are problems.
Really big ones, their entire life.
That's all you're studying.
You're just learning about one problem to the
next, to the next, to the next, to
the next.
That's all you're learning.
Yusuf a.s. a great profound messenger of
Allah.
I mean from childhood there are problems.
From childhood, there are problems.
I keep asking that question.
What is it that Allah has given you?
What do you get when you completely put
your trust in Allah in the middle, in
the thick of a difficulty when everybody else
is telling you, on the one hand people
are telling you Allah is angry at you,
that's why this is happening.
Allah hates you, that's why this is happening.
On the other hand you start thinking Allah
is punishing me, that's why this is happening.
At that moment when you can have the
best impression of Allah and maintain your love
and reliance and bond with Allah, that Allah
has not let you go.
He hasn't, what does He give you?
يَهْدِي قَلْبَهُ He guides this person's heart.
He gives their heart guidance.
I can guarantee you, when your problem goes
away, if it's a money problem, money comes
in.
If it's a health problem, health comes back.
If it's a family problem, the family problem
goes away.
None of the good things in this life
are worth anything compared to that one gift.
Thousands of hours of work have already been
put in.
And don't be intimidated, it's step by step
by step.
So you can make learning the Qur'an
a part of your lifestyle.
There's lots of stuff available on YouTube, but
it's all over the place.
If you want an organized approach to studying
the Qur'an beginning to end for yourself,
your kids, your family, and even among peers,
that would be the way to go.
Sign up for bayyinatv.com