How Bad Times Bring Out the Best in Us – At Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina
Date:
Channel: Omar Suleiman
File Size: 54.73MB
AI Generated Transcript ©
Have the Lancelot with snow Marzullo. It was so heavy on Manuela. First of all, Zack Lochhead. Thank you for the kind introduction. 100 A lot of it I mean, and the warmth and the informality back there. I told him I said, you know, he said, I'm gonna call you doctor. I said, No, say Brother, he said, but I have to live here, there'll be mad at me if I say that. So,
but warm spirit, may Allah bless you. All of the volunteers have the blessing of meeting, that Imam did it on all of the volunteers and all of those that organized the special event, all of you for coming the university. I know that this was a very short notice. But for me, honestly, this is very personal. I grew up in the United States of America, believing and this is not flowery language to start something. I honestly felt like I had two home countries. It was Palestine and Bosnia. And subhanAllah this was something from my childhood. And I'm actually in the process of translating a book of poetry from my mother may have some Suleyman may Allah have mercy on her. She wrote about
Bosnia, frequently in her poetry, as much as Palestine. And
we had the opportunity to meet Bosnian brothers and sisters in the United States and Hamdulillah that came in the 1990s and specific, and I always knew to home countries that one day I would want to visit one of them and Hamlet in Allah has made that a possibility today to come to Bosnia, the other one, Palestine, I wait for its liberation in the nine to Anna to be able to visit that home as well Inshallah, but to be with you all, here today is a special, special special pleasure for me and I have the dinner. And it's the beautiful thinking of an OMA, that even while we might have difficulty expressing language that others can understand. Sometimes you meet people, and I've had
the blessing of being on Hajj many times. And you can see in someone's face, that they are your brother, they're your sister. And sometimes the love that Allah subhanaw taala puts between us, is even when we can't speak to each other, which is very special. Why? Because we read the same Quran, because we pray the same way. Because we love the same one. Allah subhana wa Tada more than we love ourselves, because we love our Prophet sallallahu wasallam the beautiful notions and values of humanity that Allah has put inside of us mercy that we have for one another, which is not a human phenomenon, but one part of Allah's mercy, that we see each other with an eye of mercy with a lens
of compassion. And that is very special about this gathering and 100 not about I mean, as it is about everything else. And the fact that actually what brought me here is a tribunal for Kashmir. In Bosnia, a Palestinian coming to Bosnia, for a tribunal on Kashmir. I think that says it all about the unification and the potential for us truly functioning as that one body that we are told by our profits in the long run us to function as one true human body. And so thank you all for making the time on short notice to be here. While tonight, I'm going to speak very politically. Today, I'm going to speak within the realm of Ischia within the realm of spirituality. And I think that often
we separate those two worlds to an extreme, but there's always room for our spiritual foundations to be refined, so that we can renew our intentions to please Allah subhanaw taala and to act in a way that is most beloved and most beneficial to ourselves and most pleasing to Him. And so the topic of my lecture
good things, or bad things, good people. There's a philosophical parts of this, a theological parts of this, which is what often comes up when people say how come good things happen to bad people, and bad things happen to good people? That is not the thrust of my discussion tonight. Okay. It's the question of evil. The question of why, you know, this person who is a tyrant this person who is evil, yet somehow they have access somehow good things happen to them. And then you have another
A person who lives their lives righteously. And bad things happen to them. How is that possible? Because ultimately, the question that we're not asking is what is good and what is bad.
We are not capable of encompassing with our limited faculties, what is good, and what is bad? So I'm going to start with this for a moment.
If you spoke to an insect,
and you ask the insect to explain to you the most complex political issue that's happening in the world right now,
can you unravel all of this for me and explain all of this forming the insects would be incapable, and we would not burden ourselves with waiting for an explanation from an insect. Why? Because we understand that the insect is limited in their understanding, okay, let's graduate to a human being.
You don't walk up to a baby and ask the baby to explain to you complex phenomenon.
Because you can see, even though you were once that baby, you can see that the understanding of that baby is limited by their infancy
when we compare the knowledge that we have and what we can encompass with our understanding and our faculties of the world around us, and Allah subhanho wa Taala the discrepancy is far greater than us to that child, or a human being to even the smallest insect.
And that's something by the way, that Allah has given us signs, signs around us so that we can understand our limitations. You know, Allah has given us Giada can was summer summer will ever saw. Well, f EDA, Allah mentions faculties, he gave you your hearing, he gave you your seeing, he gave you your sense of comprehension perception, so that you could get to know Him, we will show them signs in our furthest arrangements FOC Wi Fi unfussy him in the furthest arrangements in the sky as well as in themselves until they come to the understanding that this is the truth. So Allah has given us enough to understand that we really don't know much. How,
if you were to compare the size of the earth,
to the observable elements around the Earth, you realize we're really not that big.
How much have we seen, that lets us know how much even the effect the light billions of years after from a star that lets us know our limitations constantly.
But it also lets us know that as much as you can see, there's so much more that you can't see. And so that is to dawn upon you your limitations, your limitations? Someone asked me the question, I said, this wasn't going to be the bulk of my talk. But like you said, we talk a lot, you know, professors and doctors and especially mache, not your Messiah and Bosnia, just the ones in America. We talked too much.
You know, I was asked this question recently about the hadith of a mother and her child
where the prophet size Some said that Allah is more merciful to you have Hamel become Allah is more merciful to you than a mother is with her child. And someone said, But a mother would never do this to her child.
I said do what?
Right? And what are you speaking about? Because you're reading what a mother does to her child? From the capacity of now understanding at the level of the Mother, the nature of the child? Let me put it to you this way. Okay.
How many of you have been babies before?
We're all children before, right?
We don't remember when we were one year old. We don't remember when we were you know, you might have some bits and pieces that flashed through your mind from when you were two year olds.
But when your mother took something away from you,
when you were a one year old, you were trying to choke yourself.
Alright, I have a two year old so I get this the look that she gives me. You know my baby Khadija she has
we play Barbies together I play Barbies with her.
So she takes the she takes this little piece he broke it off. And she loves the Barbie but then she rips the head off of the Barbie and rips the arms off sometimes then you have to get her a new Barbie. And she's trying to choke on this little piece. And I take it out of her mouth and she gives me this look like I am the greatest tyrants in the world. I'm the biggest volume in the world like how dare you
You I thought you loved me.
How dare you take this toy away from me? Because that's the nature of her understanding now, when Khadija grows up in sha Allah,
and she sees another baby, maybe her own, which I can't think about right now, but another baby, she'll perfectly be able to understand that because she will be at the level of the giver and the taker at that point, not the one who's being taken from the one who's being taken from it's not that you have to come to terms with what's being taken in what's being given. It's the level of understanding of the one from whom being taken is actually giving them life. Because you're not allowing that child to choke themselves to death. It's about their faculties, about their understanding. And so, all of this is to say what the discrepancy between the knowledge of Allah and
each and every single one of us and the knowledge of a mother and her child
is as great as any discrepancy that you can calculate.
In the ILM, Omala tanaman. ALU, attach alluvia and you'll see the V how SV could Deema spam or even the angel said, when Allah said in Niger I don't feel all the Khalifa when Allah subhanaw taala pointed out the mighty his Salam
Tada Hello fi ham and you'll see to see how else we could do that. Wait, you're going to give this to someone that spills blood in spreads corruption?
What did Allah say? Allah did not give them a long philosophical answer. Allah did not say to them and it occurred to the angels. Well, in this generation, this person will come.
And this prophet and this person, Allah said, I know what you don't know.
In the irlam, Mala Tala moon, and the angels submit to that. I know what you don't know. And then the first scene they explain that they say what Allah was talking about is the goodness that will come out of this human enterprise.
It's not just corruption. out of the loins of this Adam it his salaam will come the likes of a Saturday His Son, Jesus, peace be upon him. Musa alayhis salam there Whoo, daddy is Salam, Ibrahim Ali Hustla Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, out of the likes of the loins of this, this creation. But Omala ICA, I don't have to explain all that to you right now.
I know what you don't know. So I'm not going to list a justification, or bring this to the philosophical capacity of an angel.
You have to trust, I know what you don't know. Now all of this can be accepted to most people. But then you know, when you can't accept it, when you wanted to marry someone, and then something got in the way. And you thought, why is this happening or you got married, and the person that you thought you were marrying is not the person that you thought you're marrying, be careful if you nod your head if your spouse is in the crowd, alright, but the person that you ended up marrying was not the person that you thought that you were marrying, or you get diagnosed with a difficult health situation,
or your child
is hurt by something, or war and destruction happens.
All of these things happen to us on a personal level, and it's hard to see perspective through your own pain. I know what's beautiful about that part, by the way, Allah does not expect a view. Allah does not expect to view when you are in pain, to speak the rationale
to speak out the rationale of why hard things happen to good people. Let me explain this to you. Sober patients, when hardship strikes, is not about what you say. It's about what you don't say.
When the Prophet sallallahu wasallam was struck with the loss of his son Ibrahim.
Can I rationalize why the most beloved creation of Allah, very six of his seven children? I can't but I trust Allah and so did the one upon whom that happened. The Prophet sallallahu wasallam. Can I go through the list? Can I say it would have been better if it was five out of six, instead of six out of seven? Or maybe just one child so the prophets lie some could share in that pain with those that go through that difficulty of losing a child and you know what seemingly insurmountable difficulty of losing a job can I go through like and start to list if I use my human calculations and say, losing one child would have been enough to expand the empathy of the Prophet slice Allah?
Why Ibrahim all the way at the end. Ibrahim died right before the Prophet sighs someone by the way
Right before him, saw the law, he was so good. I say, Oh, well, maybe Ibrahim would have grown up without a father. Oh maybe that's why or maybe it would have been too much pressure or maybe the people would have killed him because he's the only son of Mohammed slicer. I can go through those but it's useless. It is absolutely useless. I'm actually telling you don't do that. Okay, it would be useless to sit there and list out why this is happening to the profit slice and I'm and you know, who did not list it out the profit slice alum.
But when he held the Brahim, what did he do? What did he do when he held Ibrahim? did he hold Ibrahim is done son and say, you know my Oma?
Sometimes bad things happen to good people. And this is why it's happening. And go through a list of things for people to understand. No, you know what the Prophet slicin did when he held the Brahim he cried.
Nickleby.
The heart feels sadness,
the eye sad tears. And we are sad. Over the death of Ibrahim Lakin, Lana Kulu Illa mio Della. But we're not going to say except that which is pleasing to Allah, we're only going to say 100 right now.
So it's not that when pain hits you, you have to sit there and rehearse the lines and try to come up with a philosophy as to why this might be better for you. You just have to trust the one in whose hands and whose understanding is what you cannot grasp.
One of the scholars of the past he said that the trust that the tobacco that you have the trust that you have in Allah subhana wa Tada is of three levels. There are three levels believe it was a million Rahim Allah Tala who said there are three levels of trust that you can have in Allah subhana wa, Gianni. So the first one is to trust Allah, the way that you trust an agent, or what key
you know, if you entrust someone with your land or your property, or you tell someone to check the mail while you're gone, or you tell someone, I'm going to pay you to go and carry out this transaction for me, you monitor that person, right?
And the minute that that person acts in a way that you feel like you did not commissioned them to what do you do you call them back?
And you admonished them,
right? You criticize them, and you probably replaced them as well, if they keep on doing what you don't want them to do.
Okay, that's one level of trust. Because when you hire an agent, you do so with some base level of trust for that person, but not real to what could that's not real trust. But it was enough to make them your wiki, and then you replace them. So the second level
is the way a child trusts the mom.
Now, he said, children throw tantrums, they cry, and they scream, and they shout, when you take something away from them.
You do it to protect them. You do it to save them. And subhanAllah one of the things that's really interesting about that relationship between a mother and her child, is even when the mother causes the child pain in the in the child's understanding.
The child seeks comfort from the same person from the mother. All right. So let me play this out for you without crying, I'm not gonna cry on stage, okay. But if you, mom, pull something away from the child, a child screams and goes, Ah, who did the child try to get a hug from? Mom.
So the child puts his or her arms out and observe. You're taking the water from
the child puts his or her arms out and seeks comfort from mom, even though all the child can see is that mom just caused me pain. But still, I know mom loves me in the back of my two year old brain.
Somewhere in there, my emotions, my fifth one my nature tells me no one loves me more than mom. No one can comfort me like mom. So it's not like if I'm in the grocery store, think about it this way. You know, if I'm shopping and then mom takes something away from me, I go to some stranger and say, hug me pick me up, give me relief. You give me candy now and I'll be your child. You don't do that. You go back to mom, because there's an elevated level of trust.
There's an elevated level of trust that I trust you enough
that even though I feel like you're causing me pain right now, I know that you also can give me comfort that no one else can give me
with a lot as though John.
Mangia, mangia messenger. I mean Kayla Illich. Almost powerful to answer the prophets, many subtle.
Marija? Well, Amanda Minka. Illa la
While Amanda MaineCare Illa Ilike there is no escape and no shelter from you except to you.
So beautiful. There is no escape or shelter from you except the back to you.
That's an elevated level of trust
the mother to the child.
The third level
is to trust Allah. The way that the dead body trusts the washer. Listen to me it's
it's Pamela milk Abraham, Allah says very beautifully about the dead body is turned in whatever direction the washer sees fits in order to purify you and cleanse you. And the dead body does not express any objections.
Let's the washer, turn and wash and purify as the washer sees fit. And that is the greatest level of Tawakkol you can have in Allah subhana wa turn.
Lila and my Florida Unto Allah belongs to the best example. To trust the love that much. You trust the love that much. Now, let's say you get past that trust
to what could is the theological foundation at some to seek the reward for your moment of pain is the spiritual
active way to use your Tilak couldn t sub
the definition of an active sub is a Sobor diraja esoa
to be patients with the hope of Allah's reward, so it's not just patients because
you're just you know, once it's like someone punches you so you just take it no, it's a Sobor lialda Philip it's Oh Allah, I'm hurt reward me.
Oh Allah, I'm in pain. So give me of the hereafter. Oh Allah, I'm in pain. Give me paradise. That is a sub that's an empty sub to seek Allah's reward, which in Arabic, a sub Niada is set up to be patient for the hope and Allah's reward. Okay, so you're seeking a reward now with that pain, you're immediately channeling it and you're saying, Yeah, Allah.
I'm not going to waste my time asking you why this is happening to me.
Can anyone tell me about a perfect woman who lived under a tyrant what her name was?
Asya the prophets lie. Some mentioned for women who perfected their Eman, perfect face.
I mean, that's a an incredible testimony. Perfect Eema
Perfect. Okay.
Miriam, Ali has Salam.
Khadija what are the Altana on her?
Fall tema Zahara are the Allahu Anhu care has
Asya stands out in her circumstances.
I mean, why do bad things happen to good people? The worst person happened to the best person for their own is her husband.
I mean,
think about that.
The best person is married to the worst person. The best person in the world at the time was most already snapped because he's nebula Kaleem Allah Musa, but the best non profits
is Asya at the time, right well Lavon but I mean perfect woman
and I got stuck with this guy
for their own out of all people were the puppet of Allah could have gone you know and taken me to like you know, sometimes I see a sister. It's usually the sisters complaining about their husbands I understand not the husband, but like like I like my husband doesn't pray
you know, here I am. I'm trying to become a better Muslim. My husband doesn't pray my husband does is my husband does
Asya married to fit our own.
Did Asya ever ask?
Yeah, Allah why? Why did I have to be in this?
situation?
Couldn't I have been married to like just some other Egyptian man.
Out of all of them, you decreed for their own to be my husband?
The guy who was Nolan for you? That'd be Hoonah of na como esta humanity cycle. That guy who's known for killing men and humiliating women and he's my husband.
None of that discourse comes with Arsia. Why? Because for one
could we really say, now if you live that the time,
but could we really say now looking back and knowing who she is asiyah would have been asiyah without federal.
See the question, do we know that Asya would have perfected her faith without the test to fit our own? We don't know that. We know now. Because the prophets lie some told us she's a woman of perfect faith.
And what is the one time we hear her voice in the Quran?
We hear her voice in the Quran.
It's when she says as she's being killed, or bidding at or in the Kavita and Phil, Jen
it's incredible. This is her voice and
the one time we hear her speak
is at the last moments when for their own use of beehoon nauticam We are stuck in isa calm is murdering his wife murdering his wife in the worst way you know, this is this is why he's fit.
This is why he's so evil. You think that you know Asya was was a woman of great o'clock she had showed good character towards him right? So even if now he knows he's a she's a believer. Right? Like if you're gonna kill her killer privately right? What does he do? He lets these strange men these guards take her out in public you know the nature of the execution of Asya it's horrible, horrible execution humiliation by all these people your wife
and then take a take a stone Lasher and then take a stone and drop it from the top so that it crushes her his own wife whereas all the years of marriage and that's for their own that's how hard the heart can become. And that's when we hear her voice
Oh ALLAH build for me with you house in paradise. That's empty sup
build for me with you a house in paradise. By the way their intimate say notice that before she asked for Jana she asked for Allah
Robin any are in DECA Beighton Phil Jana.
Meaning replace for their own with you
replace that palace with a palace in Geneva. It's the ultimate anti sup
replace for their own with Allah. Or in the UK. I no longer I'm no longer and I want to be in Dec I know I'm no longer with him. I want to be with you. And then I no longer I was pulled out of my palace. Give me a Beighton Gemma give me a palace in Paradise.
Before the stone hit the body of anuncia.
She already saw her place in Jana. Like it, she started to laugh. And Allah took her soul before the stone hit her body.
It's profound. Now by the way.
You live in the world of Asya. And there are cameras.
And the clip is taken, circulated around the world on Twitter and wherever it is the execution of the wife of the Pharaoh 21st century it might cause you a faith crisis.
How could that happen to such a good woman?
Where was ALLAH? Why didn't this happen? Why didn't that happen? How did this happen? How did that happen?
Because there's no way for you to know that Allah took her soul before the stone touched her flesh and gave her her palace and Jana. We know that because we're not reading Twitter. We're reading Quran.
Seriously, you have an eye of Quran not a tweet. You have the words of the prophets like Selim that represent the incident, not a video. Even the most perfect video I'm not even talking about a fake video the most perfect video would not have been able to lend to you the details that make that story a good story now. Now you hear that story and you say Masha, Allah, you praise Allah and you praise the MACOM the station of asiahe has Salam. But your eyes in perfect vision would have betrayed you.
You wouldn't have been able to get it. But the question becomes, do you think asiyah
In her Palisson Jana
says yeah, Allah, why did I marry Fidel? You think she cares?
You think she's like, you know, I could have had a nicer dress.
I could have had a better life. Or is she pleased? At all the Allah on whom? What all the one? Jana? Allah says the people paradise May Allah make us amongst them. But all the Allah on home, what are the one Allah is pleased with them?
And they're pleased with Allah. It's not just that Allah is pleased with them. They're pleased with Allah.
They're saying, Yeah, Allah. What more can there be? Allah says, Are you pleased? What's left? Adam to fill in a Jana? Didn't you enter a sense of paradise? Adam, Tobago, Johanna, you lightened our faces. You gave us all this what's left and Allah keeps adding more and more and more and more and more and more and more Sandra leads the leads. Yeah, Jenna all the time. Oh, people paradise. Are you pleased? Yeah, we're pleased. Okay, here's more.
The point is, dear brothers and sisters, part of the test of this world is actually of the greatest of its test as the uncertainty of it all.
Nakata locknut. In Santa Fe Cabot, you're in toil constantly, one thing after the other. And the nature of this life, by the way, is when you feel like you've caught a breath.
Next test,
it hits you. And again and again and again and again. And then you breathe, and then another one comes.
Because when you're in cupboards, it's like, you know, imagine a person rolling over, right? You're in cabinet, but the point is, you can be the person rolling down the hill, or you can be the body that trusts this washer.
Let Allah subhanaw taala take control of your affairs, why does it and seek the good from Allah, I want to conclude with two thoughts inshallah Tada in this regard.
One of them is on the individual level.
As you are striving understand that it's much easier to convey to someone else these concepts than to practice them. When you're in the middle of it.
Allah knows,
you can always comfort someone else and say, you know, in a matter so useless with hardship comes ease, don't worry, this will this you know, feel better. You'll be okay. I promise you remind people the bright side that they're not seeing, it's easier to do that for someone else.
But you know, when you're in pain, sometimes those faculties shut
the person in front of you speaking.
Your ears can't hear them right now.
But the thing is, is that Allah gave you these, first and foremost was solid and erotic means of knowing Allah.
Listen to the Quran, listen to the words of your prophets of Allah, he was gonna let that be the input. When you're in those moments, where it's really, really hard to figure out. The last thing in this regard, is that even for communities,
bad things, good people, the hard times, make us a different type of community. I want you to imagine if the prophets of Allah Honee who said them, and the Companions never had to make kids at all.
Medina would have never been
I want you to imagine.
And Islam without Medina
can't imagine it. You can't think of it? What if it never happened?
We'd never learned the lessons of a hit that we're still learning today.
The Hunt duck the trench?
You know, subhanAllah as a community, when you go through a hard time together and build something amongst you, right? Think about some of your closest friends in the world are going to be people
that went through something very difficult with you in life, right? You feel like they were there with you in a very difficult time, and they become the best of your friends.
Can you imagine the nature of the relationship of the prophets I summon his companions that were in the hunt duck together in the trenches together,
facing death, facing the highest uncertainty.
The highest uncertainty because hunt up very realistically look like the end of Medina, the end of Islam, the end of the Prophet sly summon his companions.
But they came out of that hunt duck.
They didn't just build the trench. They ended up constructing a world that we still benefit from today, a vision, a mission, a message. And the stories that came out of the hunt, duck,
Sand Mountain forest or the alarm Town Hall would have not been sentimental Pharisee without the trenches. Because the trench was his idea. Son man would have never heard from the mouth of the prophets. i Some Salmaan Rumina Allen beat son man is one of me. He's one of us. He's my family.
All of that would have been lost.
Now, when you were in the trench, it would have been very hard to behold that future reality.
But now we look back and we say 100 enough for the 100
hamdulillah for the difficult times of the prophets I summon his companions not that we like we hate to hear of the pain that our prophets lie some encounter. But we benefit from the lessons from the drought from the community from the construction from the idea of resilience that was lived by the prophet sly summoned his companions. What if they just accepted the prophets lie some and Safa he stood up on suffer called them and they they said you are Assad local Amin, not me No, but we all believe in you. Makkah became Muslim right away.
Habitat has gone, Medina is gone. The lessons of tests and resilience, the people, the brilliance, the wisdom, the sincerity all that we gained over the next two decades, that 1400 years later still benefit us would not have been there.
So we say Alhamdulillah Alhamdulillah for the tough times, and have done a lot for the times of EES Alhamdulillah through the tough times, and hamdulillah through the times of ease and hamdu Lillahi wa Eman Abba.
That's it hamdulillah always let Allah wash your soul. The way that the dead body is washed by the one who does listen for it. May Allah subhanaw taala protect all of you here in Bosnia. protect all of our brothers and sisters around the world may Allah subhana wa Tada protect you as individuals preserve you may the pain that you have faced be nothing but paradise in the hereafter for you.
The small trials and the major trials may Allah subhanahu wa Tada allow you to be nourished always with faith, with resilience with knowledge of Him with steadfastness May Allah subhana wa Tada grow us and our love for Him and our longing for him. May Allah allow all of us as we are gathered here to be gathered around our beloved Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in general to the dose Allah Amin does not come along Hydra. Listen on why you come around until I have a council?
Brother on Thank you very much for your inspiring, God bless you and give you the best of all times.
But anyway, we have a few questions, which came to ask for the zoom. Meanwhile, I I asked audience if they have any, any any question to prepare them. Microphone is available here and please share, share them with with us.
stars, stars on the question we receive to the to the Zoom is basically how do we deal with a hardship when we have a sub. But began lacking motivation to move forward and find solutions?
How do we if I understand the question, you know, Sutler. Sometimes you have suborder during the hardship, you have patience, but you've lost motivation. That's a very, very significant part of it. And it's very real, it's very human. And sometimes, by the way, pausing a bit, it's not a bad thing. Sometimes to pause a bit, it's not a bad thing. You know,
not everything that doesn't include moving is bad. I mean, sometimes it's okay to take time to make your arm to disconnect for a little bit.
To use the moment to heal, that's all okay. Sometimes, however, you want to put a limit to how long that's going to be because otherwise you'll you'll stop there and you'll really kind of get stuck and you won't be able to move. And so sometimes moving forward, by the way, finding the motivation to move forward
is in
doing the things that you used to do until the motivation comes back.
I give this examples people sometimes, you know, when people are only religious practicing spiritual in spurts, like you know, high moments, low moments, we all have high and low. But like some people's highs here and some people's lows here, right?
Imagine if people only went to work when they felt like it.
I don't know we're in a pandemic. So it's like
you can't zoom your email, you know?
You only went to work you only earned when you felt like it.
Right? Most people would be broke they'd be bankrupt.
Right? Because the idea is you go to work even some days when you don't have motivation because you have to earn
and the way that you
Do better is by reminding yourself, why you're earning and then pursuing higher career opportunities trying to move up. But there are going to be days, the consistency of going to work. Imagine if you only went to school classes when you felt like it.
What would happen to them a student's, it'd be in trouble right? Now, if the other professor they'll always come. But it's hard, sometimes you're gonna feel a lack of motivation. But the idea is you go and you and you do what you do. Even if it's at a minimal level, even if that day, you're not going to do too much, but you're still going to go to class, you're still going to take your notes, you're still going to do at least the bare minimum of preparation so that you don't flunk the class, you don't fail on the class. When it comes to our spirituality and motivation. Sometimes the motivation is numb for a moment, you know, when you get hit.
If you get hit in the same spot multiple times, you get numb, right? So sometimes there's a numbness, but you keep on doing the bare minimum, until the feeling comes back. And you do that by again, reminding yourself of the importance of doing it, even when you don't have the motivation as well as the fact that look, at some point, the feeling comes back.
As human beings, Allah has created us in very, very Subhanallah special ways. Right? But we have immense potential, to recover, to be resilient and to grow. As human beings. Allah has given us that, that sometimes you're in the middle of a test and you think, No way I'm ever going to get past this. I will never survive this test. And you do, not because of who you are, but because of the One who created you the way that you are. So that would be my long answer to a short question. Thank you.
Any more questions from the crowd? Please? Do we? Can we have microphone over there?
Thank you.
Salam Alaikum. First, I really want to thank you for your great speech. My is, let's say if you do your own, and mom or mom or whoever is taking that thing that's dangerous for us. How should we know? If that is really why that's getting away from us? And how can we
be assured that that's something that we are not supposed to chase after? Or? Or is it something that makes you say, okay, that's, like, less liquid for us, we should let it go? Or should we say, Okay, that's good per month for us, but it's a testing, we should keep fighting? How can we differentiate between those two?
Because like,
I'm always very, like, hesitant to answer those questions, because the questioner means something. And I'm like, I don't know how specific and how to how to, but I appreciate the question. So I'll give some principles as to how to address maybe in some different scenarios.
From what I understand what you're talking about, is at what point do you move on from something worldly? Right, and just say that is the other of Allah
as opposed to keeping on and pursuing it right? That's the question right? For the most part
you know the value of
istikhara
and I know that it's too hard sometimes it's prayed and people say I'm going to wait for a dream it's not the dream this the Hadas actually remember no we Rahimullah puts it very beautifully. He says that you do is the shadow of people which is seeking people's you know people that are knowledgeable people that are wise people that are well wishers you seek their advice because sometimes when you're in the midst of something, it's very hard for you to maintain like rationale. Like you really want something bad and so you're really you're getting emotionally attached to something whether it's an opportunity or whatever it may be and you're you're losing your best
reason and so you have people around you that know you enough
to tell you that okay at this point you really should probably move on it's probably best for you I think you know people that you know are knowledgeable or that know you well enough and you take their no see how you take their advice that's is the shower so remember no we're not Himalayan says that basically it's the Hara is building on St. Shara. You're seeking Allah's counsel.
So Oh Allah, if this is good for me, make it happen for me. If it's bad for me, take it away from me.
You're now moving it. It's basically a dude. We're asking a lot to facilitate the best direction for you.
Now when you do is to harder you don't give up this dish era. You still keep on letting people advise you seeking advice from from people and trying to make your best decision
and
I think that, you know, there's no perfect answer to this in the midst of it. But typically, when there are obstacles to something, and the people that love you, most are saying it's, it's best for you to move on, then it's probably best to move on.
You know, and that's something where
again, I've seen people give up on things way too quickly. And I've seen more more often get attached to something for way too long.
So it's, it's, it's using your best judgment and seeking Allah has helped throughout the process.
Thank you for the question. Thank you, Brother Ahmed. Meanwhile, we got another question for the for the zoom, which possibly is not directly related to the topic, but to the to the question of Palestine and Kashmir,
saying,
what we as ordinary people can do for fellow brothers, and I would say, and sisters, and in Palestine and Kashmir, we need some practical steps, steps and advices thank you for your advice.
So, first of all, I don't think that
people in Bosnia maybe understand how much they mean to the rest of us. When when when, when the Bosnian people express solidarity with their brothers and sisters in Palestine. It means something, you know, when you see solidarity being expressed,
as people in Bosnia I'm sure you can relate to what it has meant to know that the Muslim world and people around the world their hearts were with you and to, to hear the hope bus to hear to see the protests to see the advocacy in different parts of the world. Other people, when they're going through something, the most powerful form of solidarity is when it's from a people that understand what it's like to be vulnerable and oppressed. It's the most powerful form of solidarity, and that provokes and uplifts the human spirit in ways that that know, you really cannot understand until you talk to people in Gaza, for example,
I'm telling you that the people of Gaza will say multiple times that we were nourished by the solidarity that we were seeing around the world,
the bombs were falling. And we knew that the world was with us. We saw your protests, we heard your voice, we knew that you were with us throughout the way, it gave us that added level of motivation,
sometimes to continue forward. And so the expression of solidarity from one people who have experienced that type of oppression to another people, is the most powerful form of expression. And so I want to bring it to that bare minimum, first and foremost, that that could be as irrelevant or as small as your social media activism. And as your protests in the streets and your writing of articles in the media here to keep the issues of these places alive. Right it graduates it goes to the next level, the next level, the next level. And I think in any situation, Shawn Lazzara, when you can then organize that pressure and in a country like this and hamdulillah where you will have
leadership that will validate the solidarity, Inshallah, to make it such that your leaders, even as you know, the issue of Bosnia in and of itself and things that are happening at the local level rise to the top of priority, that Palestine always remains a priority, that Kashmir remains a priority that all of these things remain a priority inshallah Czarna ser que no. See, he's gonna be mad. He's gonna say why did you take me off the stage? What did I do to you to make? Mashallah, you can let him come? It's okay.
He can come. See you went back to mom, possibly. blessedly, he has a question as well. Yeah, maybe as a question. You never know. And kids know to to to pose math questions.
Right. Okay. In addition to what's his, what's his name? Muhammad Ali, last pants, I bless him and make him the coolness of your eyes and make him from the righteous law.
Okay, any other questions from the crowd? Yes. Okay. Let us take a few more questions.
Thank you, Mayor.
Sonali. First of all, I'd like to say that I feel truly privileged and honored to have seen you here today.
You're what Muslims should be today. Like epitone of Muslim activism is what I see in you
Work handled, I hope we get as many people like you as we can in this world. Well, my question is related to the topic.
I'm not a conflict type of person, so I really tried to evade it as much as I can. But if you are in a situation that you know, essentially takes a conflict to be resolved, how long do you wait till you actually engage in that conflict, and so it doesn't, you know, become too long after you've made your do ours, and it's the heart and all that and you know, you want to get rid of that burden that that situation is causing you
Rockman Maka
Milla bless you, and see you and all of us through whatever that is, I'm sure Allah on any of these situations, often the best way too.
And there is no good way to navigate, or no perfect way to navigate these, these these types of things. But
when we put things off, when when when something is inevitable, then it's better to get ahead of it. And to
hasten not the conflict, but when clear minded, clear hearted and can address it in the most productive ways, bring up what needs to be brought up and try to try to, you know, usually the way out of a big conflict is a small conflict, right before it escalates to a big conflict. And so to bring it into the most healthy of times, and then have the most healthy ways of addressing it, in those moments, is usually the best way to put off things when they become much more difficult for us. But that's very hard to do.
Some people are very conflict averse, they just they have an aversion to conflict. And so it ends up always coming to them because they put off things and then eventually, it's I'm one of those people so don't feel bad, you're kind of saying I have a lot of us have that issue. It's it's very common for people to have a hard time
to have those conversations before they become very difficult conversations. So that is the best way and seek Allah's help them realize that make make whatever is needed for you and for all of us easy in that regard.
Thank you, says Ahmed, if I may add, possibly, during my MA MA studies in Damansara, the International Institute of Islamic thought in Kuala Lumpur, I learned one at least I was reminded about one thing from from one Iranian professor saying,
Well, I'm not sure they know meaning that for centuries,
we have had Institute and principal of Shura of constant you know,
talking to each other and consulting each other in Quran. However, that was his opinion and I firmly firmly agree with him that for the last
14 centuries, we have not managed to develop practical mechanisms of shooter or in other words of saying you know, are looking from from the other perspective, conflict resolution.
In that sense, I believe that we need to invest a lot, I would humbly say to you know, in a sciences, yes, practical sciences, helping us to develop practical concrete steps and mechanisms of doing shooter doing consultation
of resolving conflicts. And in that sense, I believe, we should not distance and escape from for example, from the help of social scientists, social sciences, psychology as and the practical practical knowledge. Thank you for
your question. And Storyful
became very quickly that there are you know, in my university now, there is actually a master's program in conflict resolution.
And I think that that is a science truly as a science and so, maybe the university can can introduce a program in conflict resolution, if it's not already there Inshallah, I mean, it is there, but definitely generally speaking about how we, how we Muslims contemplate about you know, certain issues problems, so on we are facing challenges
is very often in you know, abstract, yeah, you know, with that without systematic, systematic solutions or
Okay, it seems we have few more questions here. I do not know how much of time we should give to questions possibly. Let us take a one more question and then we have to conclude today's session. And that question would be okay, this sister has had her hand up okay systems. Okay, this is the place
I don't know
I just wanted to say that
I have the need to say to tell you that recently I was literally like making do us a lot send me someone or something that will remind me to have trust in Allah. And especially your first part of the talk when you were talking about losing a child and everything. So a few months ago, I miscarried and this really made me emotional. So I just really wanted to thank you and to say that you literally were what is your your answer to my daughter's and I'm really thankful for having you here.
Last year, thank you Thank you sister for your question. Thank you to all of you for attending today's session and big
May Allah subhanaw taala allow that child to meet you at the gates of agenda and to hold your hand into whatever gate agenda that you please mama I mean
I mean, further further end it is a kind of Bosnian custom Okay, and the way we do it here when we have
are you going to throw something I'm sorry not
the way you're introducing this custom is
beyond the same frequency okay.
We are coming from the same school school.
Okay, when we had her with us, good, good servant of God. Like you, a man we are proud of.
You usually ask him to read the do up
for us, and we following by saying
just of May I kindly ask him chapter
for all Muslims,
all good people. And we feel
and hamdulillah Ramadan Amin, Hamdan Caffee on the UN mobile I can fee
Asana was Salam o Allah Rasool Karim Allah and he was a heavy drain.
Allah Hama for me Nina with me not. Well Muslimeen are Muslim out here even home on a month in the Casimir on Caribbean would you put out
a llama Mosler wireless one and men? Kobina frequently McCann Lawmaster wireless one and men Covina equally McCann
la mia mocha liberal Kuru sabots Kuru Anna Anna unik.
Robin LA to the kuruva Nevada if had eaten our habit anomala don't Khurana in until Wahab Baba in Mecca jamea nursery to me now he but he in Allah Allah usually for Nia and Auburn Allah to sit in Siena
have been one time in Alina Aslan Kemah, himanta Hawaiian and Davina mean Commelina robbing a one to one Midna Takata Nana be walk for on poster Donna or Hannah and Timo Donna Francois, a little calm and caffeine or sobre la masa, Nevada, kind of you know Mohamed while he was so happy to join well Hamdu lillahi rabbil aalameen and