Omar Suleiman – Act And Allah Will Unlock Success
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We begin by praising Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
We bear witness that none has the right
to be worshiped or unconditionally obeyed except for
him. And we bear witness that Muhammad sallallahu
alaihi wasallam is his final messenger. We ask
Allah to send his peace and blessings upon
him.
The prophets and messengers that came before him,
his family and companions that served alongside him,
and those that follow on his blessed path
until the day of judgment. And we ask
Allah to make us amongst them. Allahumma ameen.
Dear brothers and sisters,
as we look to the world today and
we look to the state of the Muslims
Muslims and how we approach both our individual
affairs as well as our community affairs,
there is a mindset
of accepted
defeat.
And what I mean by accepted defeat
is that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has decreed
for us test and trial,
and Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has decreed for
us hardship,
and we accept that hardship,
and we do not know when the ease
will come.
But inshallah Allah will reward us in the
hereafter.
So when it comes to our individual efforts,
we approach the deen with our
and we don't put in our full effort
at times because we know at the end
of the day, Allah will accept it and
Allah will make something happen out of it.
And on a community level, a lot of
times when we look at the situation
as we do with our brothers and sisters
in Gaza, may
Allah give them victory, Allahumma Ameen. Or we
look to the various causes of the ummah,
we think to ourselves,
well, we're doomed
to fail, we're doomed to a bad ending
here, but Alhamdulillah, we have the akhirah.
And one of the things
that the suhabah had that was learned from
the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
is this idea of victory in this life
and the next,
that success
was meant to come to this ummah in
this life and in the next.
And so when you think of a person
like Hamzah radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu,
who died in Uhud as a shahid. Hamzah
radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu had no doubt in the
promise of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala
that Allah would give victory to the Prophet
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, and that Allah Azawajal had
promised the fattih of Makkah, had promised the
opening of Makkah, and that Allah
was going to give this ummah what He
promised this ummah.
But at the end of the
day, those
they understood
that they had victory in their right whereas
the promise of
Allah would continue for this umna.
And so it was truly
It was this idea of victory or martyrdom,
that at the end of the day, if
we die,
if we find our martyrdom, if we find
that our efforts and in this case our
life comes to an amda Alhamdulillah,
what Allah has promised us is there. But
what Allah has promised this ummah is still
there as well.
How do we come to
a mentality
of victory? A mentality of victory when it
comes to ourselves,
and a mentality of victory when it comes
to our ummah without sacrificing
the notion
that Allah
will capture all good things.
When Allah mentions
the entrance of the people of Jannah,
That verily this is your reward, this jannah
is what has been given to you, and
all of your efforts
have been thoroughly appreciated.
One of the beauties of the way that
we approach Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala with our
individual Ibadat and with our community
roadmap,
with our ummah roadmap,
is that we know that Allah Azzawajal
rewards the efforts,
We will write down everything that they have
put forward,
and the effects, the efforts,
things that maybe they did not even know
that they were able to impact with Allah
captures every
effect,
every footstep towards good, every
post good that comes after you that people
build upon,
every influence of good.
We know that the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
taught us,
actions are but by intentions.
And so so long as a person intends
good, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala will write down
for them good, whether it materialized in the
amal or the outcome,
the good deed or the good outcome that
they sought.
We
know that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
rewards
our intentions and so Allah rewards our intentions,
Allah rewards our efforts,
Allah rewards our effect, our impact, the things
that we cannot capture at all that don't
have a tangible
number that is attacked to them, any quantifiable
good.
But on top of that,
one of the greatest ways that
Allah rewards the believers
when they struggle in His path,
is He gives them clarity.
He gives them
He gives them the ability to do good
deeds and the ability to figure out the
next step. And so when Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala says,
That those who strive in our way,
we will guide them to our paths
We will guide them to our paths,
And Allah is surely with the good doers.
And the ulama mentioned,
there are many ayaats
to this effect.
This idea that those who strive, Allah unlocks
for them,
not just the reward,
Allah
unlocks for them
the pathways
to greater rewards in this life and in
the next, as Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says,
That verily those who are guided, Allah will
increase them in guidance and Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala
will grant them their taqwa.
How do we understand this ayah? How do
we understand this idea
of a person who struggles in the way
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and Allah opens
up doors for them, opens up tawfiq for
them?
I want you to think about someone who
pursues success in this life.
And there's always, when you read stories of
success,
this
obsession
that a person has
with their craft and with figuring out where
they need to go. And they say you
knock on every single door until you figure
it out.
And you keep on striving and striving and
striving. If you want it bad enough, you'll
figure out how to get it.
Now for a dunya we pursuit for a
worldly pursuit, you are relegated to worldly means.
You're stuck in your worldly means. So you
have to think about what's the next material
way to try to get this material outcome.
But you keep on striving and striving and
striving until you figure it out. But you
knock on every single door until you get
there because you are that strongly attached
to success.
For the believers.
This is one of the richest ayat of
the Quran,
because as the scholars mentioned, it is both
a tawfeeq ila lamirasalih,
the being guided to righteous deeds, as well
as
an outcome
of righteousness.
And Imam al Qurtubi Rahimahullah,
he records in his tafsir,
first and foremost the that
this idea of guidance
is built upon a foundation
of pursuit.
And he starts with the,
Whoever acts
in accordance with what they know, Allah will
teach them
what they don't yet know.
Whoever acts in accordance with what they know,
Allah will teach them what they don't yet
know. What that means is that when Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala puts forth something in front
of you that you know is good
and you act in accordance with that good,
that that doesn't just unlock sincerity and reward,
it unlocks clarity and creativity, it unlocks the
next step of the journey.
And so if a person is pursuing an
'ilm
and they're acting upon that 'ilm as they're
pursuing it, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala will unlock
for them the next step in their journey
of 'ilm.
And if a person is pursuing a da'wah,
and they're pursuing that da'wah with everything that
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has given them to
do da'wah with, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala will
unlock the next step in their da'wah. But
there is a next step that happens that
is directly due to your willingness
to act upon that which is right,
your willingness to pursue everything that is in
front of you, your willingness to put everything
behind the efforts
that have been given to you. And as
the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said,
The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, Knowledge is
through seeking knowledge.
Scholars don't become scholars
by sitting in a room and saying, Allahumma
alimni
alone without actually pursuing
it. They pursue and they pursue and they
pursue and when they learn, they act.
And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala opens their hearts
to where they have the fiqh in their
hearts, the understanding,
to where they are opened up to a
greater possibility in their ilm.
Patience is through learning patience.
If you see someone who has good akhlaq,
if you see someone who has good character,
it's not a person who just made for
that to happen, it's a person who acted
upon the ahadith of the Prophet
and Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala opened up
the door for them to the next element
of that. They mastered
A person who seeks to pursue some sort
of good, Allah will unlock
that good for them.
And whoever seeks to avoid evil, Allah will
protect them from that evil.
And so there's an element here
of belief
in the next step being directly tied to
how you act in this current moment.
What you know that Allah has given you,
how do you do with that?
And then you ask Allah to
open up the possibilities
to that which is even more,
and that is going from
going from simply being guided
to, you know, in terms of your knowledge
to being guided in terms of your actions,
as the Irulah mentioned
about Arashidun,
about those who are guided, that Al Hidayah
is guidance is
to be guided in regards to your knowledge
to be guided to that next level, is
to be guided in regards to your deeds,
that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala opens up to
you the next deed that is pleasing to
Him.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala unlocks the ability, Allah
Azawajal unlocks the understanding,
and you find that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
also in the community sense gives you a
sense of victory.
And when you look at someone
like Umar ibn Khattab radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu,
Al Khulafa Ar Rashidun,
the Guided Khalifa,
and Umar radiAllahu ta'ala An whose ability
to discern.
Al Farooq,
the one who is able to see al
haqqwalbatil,
truth and falsehood and discern. And you see
the genius that he brought to his khilafa,
the genius that he brought to systemizing good
in this world, a lot of that was
Allah
unlocking
in the heart and the mind of Umar
and in the efforts of Umar Radhiallahu Ta'ala
Anhu That next
step, to improvise,
to be creative, to do amazing things for
this ummah because whatever Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
put in front of him of khair, he
applied it to the best of his ability.
He's that person that's knocking on the door,
and that has a stubbornness
to get it
right, has a stubbornness
to make sure that he does not miss
out on those things that Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala has promised. You see this in his
grandson, Umar ibn Abdul Aziz rahi mawalla as
well, improvise amazing things for this ummah,
did not have a defeated mindset
when he inherited brokenness, when he saw all
of the injustice,
and he was able to do so much.
And he commented
on this idea
of knowledge,
of this idea of Al'ilm,
of this idea of being led to the
next thing, and he said,
He said, what has caused us to miss
out on much of the good
in regards to what is to come, was
our refusal to act upon the good that
we knew.
It's when we failed to act upon the
good that we knew.
But when we acted upon the good that
we knew,
Be mindful of Allah and Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala will teach you. Allah Azzawajal will guide
you.
Dear brothers and sisters,
when we look at the world today,
and we look at those who have held
down the ground, who have held down the
fort
in regards to all sorts of khair.
The first way that the Prophet salallahu alaihi
wa sallam described,
Those people
that are successful and those people that have
been granted victory,
They have clarity.
They have clarity.
They have victory upon the truth.
And one of the reasons why they have
victory upon the truth
is because they are absolutely
undeterred.
They're They're absolutely undeterred by those who betray
them and those who are in front of
them. They remain steadfast upon the truth, knocking
upon every door. To them, victory
is always imminent.
Success is imminent.
They believe that they will win.
And 50 you know half of winning is
believing that you will win,
they believe that they will win.
And that allows them to stay the course,
and they're never intimidated
by what is ahead of them, because they
understand that they are struggling for the sake
of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, so Allah
opens up doors for them.
You know, one of the beautiful narrations when
you look at the battle of Qadaseya,
Al Kaha radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu, when he sees
the elephants
that are coming from the Persians. I mean
this is a difficult obstacle.
Many people look at that and they say,
Run, elephants. There's no way that we can
face these elements that will stomp on us.
And he said,
They have elephants, we'll make elephants.
They have elephants, we'll make elephants.
We'll turn our camels into elephants.
We'll figure it out.
We'll stay the course.
And Allah
opens up victory for them.
And that is the case for the Muslims,
that they look at the world around them
and they don't just say, You know what?
They
exert themselves
to the extreme
in regards to their sincerity with
Allah They think about it constantly, what can
I do with what Allah has given me
to bring about goodness in this ummah?
How can I use the position that Allah
has given me to be a source of
victory to this ummah?
How can I be a source of justice
in a world full of injustice?
And they understand, waladina jahadufina
lanahdiyannahumsubullana
And SubhanAllah, as the end of this ayah
goes, Allah Azza wa Jal says, Wa inna
Allah lamaalmarsineen.
And Allah is surely
with the good doers, and Ibn Abbas radiAllahu
ta'ala Anhu Masad bin Nasr walma'ona,
with victory and support.
His aid comes to those types of people
who are sincere,
who are dedicated, who keep knocking on every
single door, who exert themselves,
who do not let obstacles in the way
make them think in a defeated way that
we're done.
They know that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is
with them.
They're narrated in both ways.
There are people that sit around and say,
Look, the Ummah is done.
Insha'Allah we'll get Jannah somehow.
Insha'Allah things will be okay after. And the
Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam says, Whoever says
that people have no hope, is the most
hopeless of them all, or he's the one
that's making them hopeless.
On the other hand,
know, dear brother or sister, in this time,
that sincerity breeds clarity,
clarity breeds creativity,
And that Allah
will open up pathways for you if you
are sincere with Him.
If you want to help the cause of
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, Allah Azawajal will guide
you to ways to help the cause of
Allah.
With everything that you're studying, with everything that
you're learning, so long as you apply
what Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has shown you
of good with absolutely
no hesitation, with no taladud.
You see, Umar ibn Khattab radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu,
if you put khair in front of him,
if you put good in front of him,
and he knew that it was good, there
was absolutely no hesitation towards that good. And
that's why Allah
kept showing him what the next good was.
And dear brothers and sisters, SubhanAllah,
in this world, in the time that we
are in right now,
They plan and Allah plans and Allah is
the best of planners.
I just left the United States and subhanAllah,
in the US you have these encampments.
Who even thought about the idea of putting
a bunch of tents on college campuses over
there and making sure that they insist that
they push the issue?
And all the money in the world trying
to shut them down shut them down. They
shut it down with force, another one opens.
They shut it down with force, another one
opens.
The Islamophobia
that was bred after ghazah, after this assault
happened,
And the amount of people that are embracing
Islam is like absolutely never before.
Because at the end of the day, one
of the reasons why we believe in our
plans is we believe that Allah
plans for us when we obey Him.
And even their plans will backfire and become
khair for us as an ummah.
But it comes back to us.
How sincere are you? Waladina jahadu fina lanahdiyanahum
suulana
Those who strive in our way, Allah is
gonna guide you in your path. How do
I help the ummah from the comfort of
my home? Oh, I'm not a Sheikh. Oh,
I'm not a dahi. Oh, I live here.
Oh, I live there. Oh, I have this
situation. I have that situation.
Be stubborn, dear brothers and sisters, in knocking
on those doors of khair,
and watch what Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala opens
for you. But never stop obsessing
over how to please Allah
with the circumstances that he has given to
you. And Allah will give you that fath,
will give you that opening to the next
thing and teach you what it is that
you need to be doing next as a
result of you doing what he has already
taught you to do. We ask Allah
for victory. We ask Allah for success. We
ask Allah to forgive us for our shortcomings.