Omar Suleiman – Just When You Thought It Was Over

AI: Summary ©
The state of hopelessness and hellfire is a result of the experience of feeling subhanously rewarded by the people of Jannah. The reward of Jannah is renewed through the people in their own currency, and the state of ease is perpetual. The speaker emphasizes the importance of doing good deeds and focusing on one's actions and thoughts, as well as being a source of relief for others and their families.
AI: Summary ©
We begin by praising Allah Subh'anaHu Wa
Ta-A'la and bearing witness that none
has the right to be worshipped 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 in
His blessed path until the Day of Judgment.
And we ask Allah to make us amongst
them.
Allahumma Ameen.
Dear brothers and sisters, one of the things
that has happened in the last two years
is that the scenes of hopelessness and despair
and hellfire have suddenly become therapeutic for some
of the believers when they see the affair
of those who wreak hopelessness and despair and
the equivalent of * on earth upon our
brothers and sisters in Gaza and beyond.
And in that process, we can grasp some
of the scenes of the hereafter better and
understand them and then project them back on
our state in this world and how Allah
Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la has created
us in this consistent and constant affair.
And the sentiment was just when you think
it's over.
We saw the celebration after a ceasefire agreement
where the people of Gaza smiled and laughed
and then that very night some of those
who were smiling and laughing were murdered and
burnt alive.
Over 80 people killed by the time a
ceasefire actually takes place on Sunday.
And we know how the enemy will violate
multiple times.
Allah knows best how many of those who
celebrated the ceasefire will not actually be there
to witness it in Gaza.
What's the spiritual equivalent of this?
Just when you thought it was over.
And that has been a consistent theme of
those who wreak havoc on our brothers and
sisters is just when they give them hope
of relief, they turn up the fire.
And when you look at the states of
the people of hellfire, may Allah Subh'anaHu
Wa Ta-A'la protect us from being
amongst them.
Allahumma Ameen.
Allah Azawajal says, كُلَّمَا أَرَادُوا أَن يَخْرُجُوا مِنْهَا
أُعِيدُوا فِيهَا وَقِيلَ لَهُمْ ذُوقُوا عَذَابَ الْحَرِيطِ Think
of the creators of hopelessness in this world
now dealing with hopelessness in that world.
Every time they think they're about to escape
hellfire.
أَرَادُوا أَن يَخْرُجُوا مِنْهَا Imam Al-Qurtubi, rahim
Allah, describes it as a punishment that will
burst them to the top of a flame.
And they will see what appears to be
an escape.
And at that point they would be struck
by the gatekeepers of hellfire and returned 70
years into a pit, 70 years deep within
hellfire, struck down and told, ذُوقُوا عَذَابَ الْحَرِيطِ
Taste instead the punishment of the flame.
And so you can imagine the consistent and
perpetual hopelessness that every time they think they're
getting out, they actually go deeper in.
Just when they thought it was over, Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala shows them that you're
just getting started.
And indeed there are people who deserve to
be in that state, otherwise Al-Adl would
not put them in it.
The one who is just subhanahu wa ta
'ala would not put them in it.
And so there's a state of hope followed
by hopelessness.
And one of the greatest means of torture
in this life is when you give someone
the hope of relief and then you increase
the trial, you increase the test and the
torture upon them.
Because the emotional sentiments, you're on guard when
you're in a state of trial, but you
let your guard down.
And so when you increase the torture, you
don't have the same tools, or at least
they're not kindled as immediate as before, to
see yourself through that.
And the Prophet ﷺ said about hellfire that
the person who has the least punishment in
hellfire will have a stone in their shoe
that will go through and boil what is
in their bodies until it reaches their brain.
And then they will be restored and it
will come back and be over and over
and over again.
لَا يَمُوتُونَ فِيهَا وَلَا يَحْيَى They do not
die there nor are they given life.
It is a consistent perpetual punishment just when
they think it's over.
Now there's an equivalent to that as well
in Jannah.
And the equivalent in Jannah is that just
when the people of Jannah will think that
they've maxed out in terms of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala's blessing and reward, Allah will
show them something that they had no idea
even existed.
Just when they think they have it all,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will give them
more.
And who deserves that more than the people
of Gaza when we think about them right
now?
Who have been scrambling for something so small,
celebrating the possibility of not being burnt alive
in whatever makeshift home that you have while
you're starving to death.
Who will deserve that more?
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala every time
He increases the beauty of the people of
Jannah, they think that's maximum beauty.
Every time Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives
them a new reward, they think this must
be the highest reward.
The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam mentioned to
us in the authentic hadith that Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala will tell them, keep asking,
ask for more, it's not over yet.
You haven't got it all yet.
And they would say, أَلَمْ تُبَيِّدْ وَجُوهَنَا They
look around at themselves, they say, but our
faces have been made bright.
أَلَمْ تُدْخِلْنَا الْجَنَّةِ You entered us into Jannah.
وَتُنَجِّنَا مِنَ الْنَّارِ And you saved us from
hellfire.
Ya Allah, what's left?
We thought it was over.
فَيَكْشِفُ الْحِجَارِ Subhanahu wa ta'ala Allah azawajal
removes the veil.
And then they see the face of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala and they would not
have been given anything more blessed and more
beautiful than that.
So subhanAllah, just as the hope of the
people of hellfire is being turned into greater
hopelessness, just as the punishment is being renewed
perpetually, the reward of the people of Jannah
is being refreshed and renewed perpetually to where
they're reaching a greater level, a greater level,
a greater level, a greater level.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us
amongst those people.
Allahumma ameen.
And just as the people of hellfire would
wish for death.
And one of the most heartbreaking things to
witness in this world is a young boy
who didn't get a chance to live life,
wishing for death because their parents have been
killed, their siblings have been killed, they don't
see a future for themselves in this dunya,
and they wish for death.
The people of hellfire would wish for death.
They would wish for it to end.
Even on the day of judgment, يَلَيْتَنِي كُنْتُ
تُرَابًا They would wish to end at that
point because they know what follows is only
going to be worse.
But look at the state of the people
of Jannah.
When Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala blesses them
with something else, and something else, and something
else.
Imagine when they look around at each other
and it's like, I just realized something.
أَفَمَا نَحْنُ بِمَيِّتِينَ إِلَّا مَوْتَتَنَا الْأُولَى وَمَا نَحْنُ
بِمُعَدِّبِينَ Is that really it?
Are we really not going to die?
A realization again, and again, and again.
Wait a minute, this is forever.
Wait a minute, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
still has more to give us.
Wait a minute, we're just getting started in
Jannah.
And imagine friends talking to each other.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow us
to be part of that conversation.
And saying, you realize we're not dying.
There's no pitfall after prosperity here.
There's no disappointment after deliverance.
It's just on the up.
Except for the first time that we die.
And we will never be punished again.
إِنَّ هَٰذَا لَهُوَ الْفَوْزُ الْعَظِيمُ That is great
success.
لِمِثْلِ هَٰذَا فَلْيَعْمَلْ الْعَامِينُ For that, let those
who are working work.
For that moment.
And here I want to bring us to
our state in this dunya.
We know that in this dunya we have
hardship, we have ease.
And we know that the Prophet salallahu alayhi
wasalam told us that Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala will test us like the lines, vertical
lines grabbing a horizontal line pinching us at
different points in our lives to remind us
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
وَلَنُذِيقَنَّهُ مِنَ الْعَذَابِ الْأَدْنَى دُونَ الْعَذَابِ الْأَكْبَرِ
لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَ And sometimes you will taste a
smaller punishment before the greater punishment so that
Allah can bring you back.
It's an opportunity to bring you back to
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
You will be pinched in this dunya at
different points to remind you that this is
darul bala, that this is a place of
test and trial.
But here is the thing that we often
forget, that these tests and trials are not
neatly spread out in our lifetime.
It's not like you have a period of
ease and then you have a period of
hardship.
You have a good thing that happens to
you and then you have a bad thing
that happens to you and then a good
thing that happens to you and a bad
thing that happens to you.
In fact, one of the most powerful reflections
on the ayah, إِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا that
verily with hardship comes ease is that Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala described hardship as a
state.
That state of being could last for two
years, it could last for 20 years, it
could last for two minutes.
But that state of ease is perpetual once
you enter into true yusr which exists only
outside of this world and paradises.
So it's not like the hardship that Allah
is talking about is the one thing that
just happened to you.
But they're states of being that sometimes you
have hardship and then that hardship is followed
by another hardship.
And just as you think you're about to
get ease, another hardship comes and then another
one comes and then there's a long period
of ease relative ease because even in your
state of ni'mah, in your state of blessing,
there are things that will remind you life
is not perfect, it's not meant to be
perfect here.
But relative periods of ease and blessing.
And then suddenly you get struck by a
long period of trial and hardship.
And then that sentiment comes sometimes when you're
in the state of hardship.
I thought it was over.
You were just about to climb out.
Allah shows you the light at the end
of the tunnel.
But then the tunnel somehow extends.
And if a person doesn't have proper iman,
proper yaqeen, proper faith and certainty, then at
that point they can succumb to the darkness
and they can embed it in their own
hearts and say, I give up, I give
up.
And that happens to many people.
And listen to how the Prophet salallahu alayhi
wasalam spoke about ayyam al-fitm, the days
of trial and tribulation.
And pay attention to the hadith of Abu
Hurairah radiallahu ta'ala and the Prophet salallahu
alayhi wasalam said, بادروا بالأعمال Rush to do
good deeds.
Some of those that explain the hadith explain
that rush to do good deeds meaning in
times of ease.
Rush to do good deeds in times of
ease because we tend to be most complacent
with our good deeds when we don't feel
the urgency of test and trial.
بادروا بالأعمال فتناً قطع ليل المظلم Because there
are trials that will come to you that
will be like dark patches of the nights.
When you think about a ليل المظلم, a
long night, in the depths of the darkness
of the night, you see no light whatsoever.
Only the artificial lights exist at some point.
See no light whatsoever.
And you will be plunged at times into
fitan, into trials and tribulations, where there is
no end in sight.
And the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam is saying,
بادروا بالأعمال Rush to do good deeds before
you find yourself in that state because he
says salallahu alayhi wasalam, at that point, يصبح
الرجل مؤمنا ويمسي كافرا وليعياذ بالله May Allah
protect us.
A person will wake up a believer and
go to sleep a disbeliever.
Or they'll wake up a believer go to
sleep a disbeliever.
Or they'll go to sleep a believer, wake
up a disbeliever.
The point is that at that point, you
might just lose your iman.
You might lose your faith altogether.
And someone thinks, how could I?
Me?
No, I'm a Muslim.
I'm a mu'min, I'm a believer.
I would never lose iman.
You're saying that in a time of ease.
But are you implementing بادروا بالأعمال Rushing to
do good deeds as if you're that person
that's in the pit of despair.
You can say it now.
But it's not easy when the time actually
comes.
The Prophet ﷺ in another hadith in Muslim
Imam Ahmed, Prophet ﷺ described, كالخرزات في النظام
That the fitan will come towards the end
of times.
If you imagine, many of you are carrying
the misbah, tasbih.
If you imagine the beads on a string,
and someone cuts that string and how quickly
those beads fall off.
Imagine the Prophet ﷺ is saying, sometimes tasbih
will hit you that way.
Right?
And the fitan at the end of times,
may Allah protect us, will be like that.
So it's not like one falls on you
like a boulder.
It's like ten boulders fall on you suddenly
at one time.
What does that mean for us?
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ is saying, بادروا
بالأعمال Then rush to do good deeds in
your time of ease.
And here's what I want us to focus
on, dear brothers and sisters.
Because there will be long periods of relative
ease in our lives, where we become complacent.
And long periods of relative trial in our
lives, where we can succumb to despair.
And the Messenger of Allah ﷺ emphasized how
you act when you're not in that desperate
state.
And if you think about what we are
most prone to, when things are calm and
easy, it's the state of ghafla.
It's what Allah Azawajal calls the state of
heedlessness.
الغفلة في أوقات النعم Ghafla, heedlessness, during your
long stretches of ease.
Why?
Because you don't feel like the world is
closing in on you.
And so you tell yourself, yeah, I've got
time.
You know, when the time comes, I'll get
into my du'a.
You know, when the time comes, I'll renew
my faith with Allah ﷻ.
And so you already have people from now
thinking, yeah, my life is not great.
I'm not, I don't really know Allah.
I'm not reading much Qur'an.
I'm not getting close to Allah ﷻ.
I'm not making much du'a.
But yalla, Ramadan.
Who guaranteed you Ramadan?
Who in the world told you that you
will live another month and a half?
Who told you that's even coming?
But when you're not feeling the heat of
despair, you can easily fall into ghafla.
You can easily fall into ease.
And subhanAllah, I was reflecting on this hadith
in a way that I had never, subhanAllah,
noticed before.
The hadith of the Prophet ﷺ talking to
Abdullah ibn Abbas ﷺ while he was riding
with him.
And at the tail end of the hadith,
the Prophet ﷺ says to Ibn Abbas, تعرف
إلى الله في الرخاء يعرفك في الشدة Get
to know Allah in times of ease.
Allah will know you in times of hardship.
And I was just thinking, subhanAllah, how beautiful
and precise the advice of the Prophet ﷺ.
Because sometimes when you're in periods of ease,
you still pray your five prayers, you still
give your sadaqah, you still do your things
robotically and mechanically.
But you disconnect from Allah ﷻ in your
times of ease.
Like your du'a doesn't have the same
deep attachment.
Your salah doesn't feel as great.
We hate trial, but trial is the only
thing that wakes us up for tahajjud.
We hate despair, but despair is the only
thing that makes us cry in our du
'a.
And so sometimes in your times of ease,
yeah, alhamdulillah, I still come to jumu'ah,
I still pray my five prayers.
But your heart is rusting, you're not talking
to Allah, you're not getting to know Allah
ﷻ.
You're succumbing to ghafla.
It's easy right now.
And when it's easy, it's easy to become
heedless.
And the Prophet ﷺ emphasized, تعرف إلى الله
في الرخاء Get to know Allah ﷻ During
those times of ease, Allah will know you
in times of hardship.
You know what it makes me think about?
Every time I take someone for umrah or
hajj, especially hajj, then during hajj, mashaAllah, people
want like an experience where they're making du
'a quietly and everything is nice and smooth
and sakinah.
That's not the ibadah of hajj.
In hajj you're getting bustled around, pushed around,
elbows, sweat, tiredness, exhaustion, dehydration.
There's no quiet moment for du'a except
for the tense of mina.
Maybe, and on the day of Arafah.
Other than that, you're making talaf and you're
just trying to not fall down while you're
making your dhikr and your du'a.
Right?
Why?
Because in moments of tribulation, you don't have
that time to settle in and make that
quiet du'a and feel that quiet connection.
What's stopping you right now?
تعرف إلى الله في الرخاء تعرف إلى الله
في الرخاء بادر بالأعمال And the last hadith
that I'll mention here, والله في عون العبد
ما كان العبد في عون أخي Allah will
be at the aid of the believer so
long as the believer is at the aid
of his brother.
You want Allah to know you in hard
times when you think the hard time is
never going to end.
When you feel like, I can't see an
end in sight.
These are three things.
بادر بالأعمال Rush to do good deeds in
your times of ease as if it's a
time of hardship.
Put yourself in Gaza right now.
Mentally put yourself in Gaza.
Spiritually put yourself in Gaza right now.
And think about what would happen to your
du'as and what would happen to your
good deeds.
بادر بالأعمال Number two, تعرف إلى الله Do
the actions where you get to know Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala, where you read Qur
'an in quiet, where you make du'a
in ease, where you do dhikr in ease,
and you connect yourself to Allah.
Because that's the only way that you'll be
able to trust Him when you can't trust
your senses because you don't see an end
in sight during the trial.
Number three, Allah is in the service of
the believer so long as the believer is
in the service of his brother.
When you're in that state of ease, make
sure that you're a source of ease for
someone else.
Because then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will
continue to be in your aid even when
your times are no longer easy.
The last thing I say is what Allah
azawajal says, وَعَبُدْ رَبَّكَ حَتَّى يَأْتِيَكَ الْيَقِينُ Worship
Allah until death comes to you.
When is it over?
I don't know when it's over.
The beauty and the complication of this dunya
is that we don't know when it's over.
We keep getting plunged into hardship and ease.
We're in the cycle and we don't know
when it's going to be over.
وَعَبُدْ رَبَّكَ حَتَّى يَأْتِيَكَ الْيَقِينُ Worship Allah until
certainty comes to you.
Certainty is death.
Worship Allah until death comes to you.
Hatim ibn al-Aslam rahimahullah had a beautiful
reflection on this.
He said, the dunya is like your shadow.
Think of the dunya as your shadow.
This world as your shadow.
If you try to catch your shadow, you'll
never be able to.
But if you turn your back to it
and walk, it will have no choice but
to follow you.
Put the dunya behind you like your shadow.
And follow that guidance and chase Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala with desperation even when your
circumstances don't seem so desperate.
So that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will
give you hope even when there is no
worldly end in sight of the trial and
tribulation that you are in.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give us
thabat.
May Allah give us firmness on our faith
in good times and in bad times.
And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make
the best of our deeds the last of
them.
And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant
our brothers and sisters in Gaza relief after
relief after relief.
In this life and the next.
And join us with them.
And allow us to be a source of
relief for them and in their aid.
So that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala be
in our aid throughout this period of ease
that we are in relative to them.
Allahumma ameen.
A
'udhu
Billahi Minash Shaitanir Rajeem.