Omar Suleiman – My Mom My Role Model
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses the death of the Prophet sallama Alayshi wa Sallam, the importance of finding extraordinary people in one's life, and the importance of learning from people who made great accomplishments. They also talk about a woman who lost her memory and eventually developed a stroke, lost her ability to walk, and eventually developed a stroke. The speaker emphasizes the importance of finding strong individuals to elevate others to their values.
AI: Summary ©
So don't want to go to law school but a council
announced to me not even to say Thanos even some Navajo Haman hamdu Lillahi Rabbil alameen What are Gwon a la blah blah. I mean when I'll give it to them we're talking a lot more slowly we're selling about a quarter avocado, Sudan Mohammed and solahart. He was sell them while only he was able to sell them to * kathira
the brothers and sisters
with everything that our beloved brother Imam sohaib said about the virtue of the messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam,
I want you for a moment to imagine the scene of the Prophet sallallahu wasallam his death
when you had aboubaker Omar, Nan Ali and these type of people there, and the people were in such trauma that there was a bedwin Arab who was running around back and forth in the masjid saying Allahumma hos buslee Oh, a lot, take away my eyesight. Because I don't want to lay my eyes on anyone after the Prophet sallallahu wasallam
and you know, Subhan Allah, the death of the Prophet sola lies on being the greatest tragedy that this oma has ever faced. Was it was so great that after the Prophet slicin and passed away for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years, the way to console a person who had lost someone beloved to them, was to say to that person with goodwill, Saba Fimo to Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, remember the death of the Prophet sallallahu Sallam remember the tragedy, your disaster, your tragedy and the death of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. But in essence, the man of the hubby Rahim Allah, He said something extremely powerful.
He said, What lying, even though he passed away, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he was still alive in the actions and in the character of the people. You could look at people and you could find the exact demonstration of the life of the Prophet sallallahu sallam, they were trying to smile like him Solaris, and um, they were trying to act like him. They were trying to walk like him solo and he was tell him he was alive in the coma.
Until eventually, people moved on to other things. And you know, some had a lot. This talk would be different from any other talks that I've ever given, because I'm not going to do
what our beloved chef did and mentioned many sources and mentioned different stories and different Tafseer and things of that sort. Because many times we look at the lives of these great men, the Sahaba of the Prophet soloist and and we look at the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. And there's this idea that we can't be them. So we might as well not try to aspire. But there are people that have lived amongst us
that tried to follow their example, and not succeeded in becoming tremendous people because the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said frequently called naman, Amati sabby. own show. He also talked earlier about al magette did the one person at the head of every 100 years but also an authentically why and I will not aim in every single generation of mine Muslims of my nation, there are people that are foremost that are savvy.
And today I wanted to talk about the person that I met the person that I knew that inspired me more than any other human being ever has. I have a person that was not a chef, that was not a scholar. In fact, if you were to ask this person, what month have she followed, if you were to ask this person about some of the terms that we see floating around on Facebook today, she would not even know what they were.
She's the most inspirational human being that I've ever met.
And it's my mother, may Allah subhanaw taala Have mercy on her. Because many times we look for role models, we look for heroes, and we try to find them in books or we try to find them, you know, as great scholars that live halfway across the world that we would never meet but we neglect the role models and the heroes that are in our homes. How many of us would not even be here if our parents did not teach us La ilaha illAllah Yes, Alhamdulillah Allah subhanaw taala guides people to Islam. But at the same time, how many of us are here because our parents cared enough about us to teach us the meaning of La ilaha illAllah Muhammadan rasul Allah. So I wanted to share with you my dear
brothers and sisters, for the purpose that you have you making dua for her and understanding that will law he there are there are people that live and live amongst us
that are truly extraordinary and an amazing people. And I just wanted to talk about her upbringing for a moment. My my mother Rahim Allah to Allah was the granddaughter of allama Monique Hassan Rahim Allah, the faqeer Philistine
In the Ottoman Empire, the only Arab scholar in Makkah to temiz the the court of high scholars and the time of the in the in the later part period of the Ottoman Empire. If you're thinking to yourself, I'm saying that just so everyone can say Masha Allah, that's why she's such a great person. Her grandfather was the faqeer Philistine.
You're wrong.
Because the loss of Hannah horchata tested her family and the people, the children, some of the children of muneeb Hashem, Rahim, Allah to Allah actually left Islam and Philistine. They were part of the royal families. My mother was the first cousin of the mother of Queen Alia of Jordan. And they were from Benny Hashem, Banu Hashim, the direct descendants of the prophets, Allah lies in them. And I know that that doesn't impress you for your day. See, because every day she thinks that they're from the lineage of the prophets. lysozyme I know all of you, I say it's all that kind of stuff doesn't impress me either.
But with all of that, her family were not a people who used to pray. They used to drink. My mother grew up in a totally Catholic school in Jerusalem next to the church of Nativity run by nuns.
And when she grew up in that school, she did not understand what it was that Allah subhanaw taala wanted her to be the granddaughter of the nuclear Philistine. She didn't know. She grew up confused. But at the same time, she always had this inclination to spirituality. So although her family was extremely religious and upright, she used to sneak out of her house as a 789 year old girl and go pray a lot of budget in the budget. Just asking Allah subhanaw taala for some form of guidance, even as a young baby even as a child as a toddler, she had inclinations her fifth role was always calling out.
And then a loss of Hannah hoods Allah blessed her after she finished her schooling, not to take the path of becoming a nun or anything of that sort. She graduated with a degree in Arabic literature, she became a teacher, she was caring, compassionate, she loved to teach. So she taught in Ramallah she taught in Philistine and then whenever she came to America, the irony of it was is that she taught some of the daughters
of her students and Philistine love to teach Arabic love to be compassionate, kind towards her students love to raise people love to see other people smile was always smiling and Subhanallah we look at the whole look of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam, and one of the descriptions of him sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, Canada, Sonam, Baja Canada, his salatu salam, he was always smiling and laughing and making other people smile or laugh. I cannot recall a single picture of my mother as a child with her not smiling.
And I remember all of the moments where she would smile at every single person that she would see.
And it was that whole look that character that won people's hearts. But Allah subhanaw taala did not send her true guidance, until she met my father not in Philistine but in Houston in the University of Houston.
And at that time, they got married at the Islamic Center on Richmond Avenue, the only message that was in Houston which was just a house, and she didn't understand where her life was going. But at the same time, she trusted Allah subhanho wa Taala enough that Allah subhanaw taala would guide her to the straight path. She started wearing Hijab later on in her life, she started to draw close to Allah subhanaw taala she started to pray.
And then in the 1980s 1981, to be exact, she developed the disease called mice fimea Gravis, which is Latin for grave muscle disorder.
She lost her ability
to walk freely. She started feeling like her muscles were weak. She wasn't as mobile as other people. Then she developed another blood disorder. She had to go through 17 blood transfusions in two years.
After my brother, my older brother Jamal was born.
Whenever she sat with the doctor, the doctor told her that she would never be able to have kids again.
And Allah hate their brothers and sisters, this woman who had just started practicing Islam, just a few years, she laughed at the doctor and she said you're not God.
And Allah subhanho wa Taala allowed her to get pregnant A month later, and she was pregnant with me.
And whenever she became pregnant with me, the doctors told her that you're not going to survive and your your baby's not going to survive because all of the blood transfusions at that time there was the AIDS scare.
All of these diseases that probably came in with this blood it's not going to happen a lot.
subhanho wa Taala prove them wrong once again, with her faith in Allah azza wa jal that was no obstacle to her. She never doubted for a moment. She never said Why is the last panel to Allah doing this to me? In 1990, she had her first stroke. And it was discovered that it was because she had throat cancer.
She came out of that stroke and she said that hamdulillah Allah subhanho wa Taala through this stroke has purified me from the sins that I had before.
Then a few years later, another stroke 1993.
And they discovered that the cancer was getting more severe. She had to go through chemotherapy, the doctor said the chance of her survival is 40% or less, a loss of how to how to prove them wrong. She never complained. She said that the de la hearable alameen Wa La he not once complained. Not one saying why is the loss of hundreds out of doing this to me, I just started wearing a job. I just started praying and her family members actually told her that this is God punishing you because you were a job.
She said No, you're wrong. This is a law purifying me from my past.
She kept going.
In 1996. She had another stroke, a third stroke.
And with this stroke, she went into an unresponsive coma for 14 days.
The doctors told us she has no chance whatsoever. She's just a vegetable. She's not going to wake up from this. While the doctor was speaking to my father on the 14th day and telling him she has no chance. She opened her eye and she said I'm thirsty.
My dad's name, give me a cup of water.
And she drank from that water. She said that hamdulillahi Rabbil alameen Allah subhanho wa Taala is purifying me? Can you imagine with all of the
half of my childhood, she was in the hospital. She once had a detached retina we were walking on in the mall and her retina fell out and she couldn't see anymore.
She had to have thyroid, her thyroid taken out. She had osteoporosis.
All I remember is my mother going to the hospital time and time and time again. And while she would go, she would make dua to Allah subhanho wa Taala she would say Oh Allah, purify my sins and allow me to see my children grow. All she wanted was to see her children grow up.
And every single time she was in the hospital, she would make that there. And the interesting thing about her is that when people would visit her in the hospital, she would make it a point to host them she could barely move, but she would still make it a point to host them. With the 1996 stroke, she lost most of her memory, she forgot our names. She forgot suit at the party Ha. And in one year after 1996. Within one year, she memorized forges of the order and back.
Now she's not a hobby, and someone's gonna say well for just that's not much for a woman who barely has memory, to be able to sit there and pound for juice into her head over an entire year with something that's upon a law. I don't think many of us could have achieved
after that.
She lost her speech.
And she could barely talk and once he would talk, it was hard to understand her but she would still try and the only people that could understand her were the people that were always around her. She would have to repeat herself 234 times and she also had bad hearing.
All she would say was to speak and to lead and I and I'm telling you to the point that will lie. When I think of my mother Rahim Allah to Allah I don't even remember her or actually I remember her without a job. But when I have images of her I remember her walking around her a job. She used to sit there during her cooking and read Tafseer the entire day, memorize the order and the entire day.
And she used to say Alhamdulillah Allah subhanho wa Taala saved me from hearing the type of things that people talk about in gatherings and saved me from speaking because I might backbite with them. Alhamdulillah no one understands me except for Allah. She used to say that to us when she was angry. No one understands me except for Allah. But she said al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil aalameen because that stops me from getting the sense of backbiting,
continued forth with her life. And she was so Subhana Allah so passionate, that even though she wasn't able to speak she used to write poetry about Philistine poetry about Bosnia. She used to put her words on paper, and I found one of her old poems one of the most beautiful poems. She wrote about the rock
And Philistine. She said hey, yeah, man. Yeah communi in Nita, Fie South Rita hiya Bama a small authority will Agia is slow to shut up in La mia de la Edu cotton Vala Mooney Hina Kala cotton wala Mooney Hina Khan Mahajan, sommets austro has won World War noblin bout a colossal fell hazard in Majeed. What barakallahu glyphis studied for Anam and audibly fell asleep about two what the * out of these two while he Kelly Mati Allahu Akbar sogetsu.
That was from her poetry Rahim Allah to Allah, where she wrote who will carry me meaning the stone I am a rebel. inside of my chest, my conscious is alive the secrets of the young and the old. The determination of a people that was unable to find other than me to fight for them. They're saying that I'm unable to fight wrongs me. They wronged me when they said that I was a silent stone I feel I hurt I beat and I struggle. May Allah bless the Livingstone May Allah bless the homeless child, for I was planted in the land the Philistine, but I was grown in every land and for the greatness of Allah, I fell into jute.
I remember her dear brothers and sisters, and all I think of was that anything that happened to her She always said to him that he law when there is any gathering, she would always be the person to look for the one sitting in the corner to take them out. There was someone that was unknown to try to talk to them and laugh with them, even though she could barely talk.
And I remember that even as a young boy, she used to actually come and apologize and this is probably bad parenting. But you know what, it shows you that heart of goltz panela. She used to come to us and apologize whenever she would yell at us. She would wake us up at 2:30am to say, I'm sorry, do you forgive me?
We were children. And it was kind of like mom, I'm trying to sleep.
How do you forgive me?
And then I remember
on one night,
and this was August 30 of 2007.
She walked into my room at 2am
she sat me down
and she said I just wanted to let you know. I'm pleased with you.
And that if Allah subhanho wa Taala takes me away for some reason.
I want you to continue and go ahead with your wedding which was just in a few months. My Nikesh was right before that.
And Subhanallah she started to give me her will see you.
I said Mom, what are you talking about? Can you stop I don't want to hear all of this. She started to give me her will see you because she knew the next day I was going to a youth camp and the messages and I wasn't going to be home for three days. Nothing was wrong with her.
She was fine.
And Subhanallah Ramadan was right around the corner and my mother was a pro at Ramadan. My father in law shift Hassan MOBOTIX acaba de la la. He used to make a challenge he used to say let's have a competition. Let's see, who can read the four and the most times and Ramadan. And I remember that previous Ramadan, a woman who could barely read and probably didn't have the best touch with in the world, who only Allah subhanho wa Taala could understand. And she finished reading the Quran 14 times in Ramadan
was her life. It was everything about her. And my father told me that Subhana Allah those three days of her life were the happiest days of her life. She was smiling uncontrollably, laughing uncontrollably, saying Alhamdulillah uncontrollably and nobody understood why. until Monday morning, when I was on my way to pick her up.
She had another stroke in the closet.
And this time she wouldn't get back up.
Upon a law I remember that week being the most unreal week of my life.
I remember at the janazah thinking to myself,
how was it when the prophets lie Selim was buried?
How is it that someone that's so amazing in your eyes and she died on Layla tomorrow, the night of Friday hamdulillah another blessing upon her and her janazah was after salata Juma
and I remembered how was it that they buried the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam.
I remembered that lambda de la blah means he didn't have a single enemy in the worlds. Well, La Jolla. Swanee. What a hottie she did not know much. She didn't have much knowledge. But it was her character. It was her character.
And if you're wondering how I could put myself through that, I remember when I was sitting there and I was watching her being buried and I think anyone who lost their parent understands
I remembered faulty model the allow on asking and a symptomatic or the Allahu anhu
How did you put dirt on the face of my father? sallallahu wasallam How could you bring yourself
to a point where you could put dirt on the face of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam
and undersell the Allahu anhu said, well, la he uncovered coluna
we denied our hearts, we pretend our hearts weren't there. We had to eliminate our hearts to be able to do that.
And I think about her all the time.
For five years now, I've waited for the moment where I could tell her life story. A woman who had a possibility of becoming a nun or just a secular person who would drink alcohol just like everybody else in her family.
But instead she drew close to Allah subhanaw taala. And she never complained that she understood that whatever came to her was a means of elevation.
And whatever Allah subhanaw taala gives you an eye is a means of elevation. It's a means of bringing us close to him. And the law he there are legends that live amongst us and there are role models and heroes in your house. Thank your parents if they brought you up in Islam, you better thank them for bringing you up in Islam.
And I always had a law say that my son in law has cinnamon has Sonata anything good that I've ever done is only from her house or not. Because I know that at the end of the day, Allah subhanaw taala would not have allowed me to be here not everybody can convert to Islam and come back to Allah subhanho wa Taala.
So dear brothers and sisters, look for those heroes in your home. Look for those people that you love.
Look for the people that have that amazing character, that exalted character that are always smiling that have never harmed anyone and try to emulate that. It's easy to emulate the other stuff.
And remember, your parents in your day. Do not ever forget them. And remember the favor that they did for you if they brought you up in Islam. We ask Allah subhanaw taala to have mercy upon our parents We ask Allah subhana wa tada to forgive them We ask Allah Subhana Allah to grant them alfetta dose, we ask Allah subhanaw taala to elevate them to the status of the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in the highest level of genital for those. We ask Allah subhanaw taala to reunite us with our parents and we ask Allah that if our parents are not Muslim, we ask a lot to guide them. We ask a lot of hands on it to open their hearts to Islam. And we ask Allah subhana wa
tada to forgive them as they brought us up. And they went through all of that burden. We ask Allah subhanaw taala not to allow them to suffer in the hereafter not even for a single moment. Lama I mean, does not allow height on occasion.
Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh