Omar Suleiman – Saying Alhamdulillah, When it Hurts
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Bismillah Ar-Rahman Ar-Raheem Ar
-Rahman
Ar-Raheem Ya ayyuhal nasu ittaqoo rabbakum
allathee khalaqakum min nafsin wahida wa khalaqa minha
zawjaha wa battha minhuma rijalan kathiran wa nisaa
wa ittaqoo Allah allathee tasa'aloon bihi wal
arhaam inna Allaha kana alaykum raqeeba Ya ayyuhal
ladheena amanoo ittaqoo Allaha wa quloo qawlan sadeeda
yuslih lakum a'malakum wa yaghfir lakum dhunubakum wa
man yuta'il laaha wa rasoolahu faqad faaza
fawzan azeema We begin by praising Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala in every situation and we
bear witness that he alone is to be
worshipped and unconditionally obeyed and we begin by
invoking his peace and blessings upon our beloved
messenger sallallahu alayhi wasallam on the prophets and
messengers that came before him and on 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.
All praise is due to Allah in every
situation.
It was a note written by our brother
Imam Marcellus Williams rahimahullah ta'ala may Allah
have mercy on him his final testimony before
he was executed and the first time that
many people were introduced to this term alhamdulillah
All praise is due to Allah in every
situation.
There are many celebrities and many athletes and
many people who at the height of their
success introduced the world to this term alhamdulillah
as they stood in triumph in a ring
or in an arena but probably none so
more powerful than the written words of an
innocent man as he was executed by a
criminal criminal justice system alhamdulillah ala kulli hal.
All praise is due to Allah in every
situation.
I want us to reflect on this term
and particularly how difficult and how rewardable it
is to say alhamdulillah when it's hard to
say alhamdulillah alhamdulillah when it hurts alhamdulillah not
in a moment of triumph but in a
moment of trauma alhamdulillah not in a moment
of victory but in a moment of in
quotation marks defeat alhamdulillah not when an obvious
blessing has been born into your life and
you're carrying your child for the first time
but the alhamdulillah when Allah tests you to
have to bury that child that you welcomed
into this world the one that the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wasallam said that a house of
praise baytul hamd is built for because it's
so much easier to say alhamdulillah at the
moment of receiving a blessing than it is
to say alhamdulillah at the moment of losing
a blessing and there is a difference there
are two phrases of dhikr two phrases of
the remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala that
are probably the most frequent in our lives
and the most difficult and rewardable to say
at certain points in our lives the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wasallam said in the afdala dhikr
la ilaha illallah the best form of remembrance
of Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala is la ilaha
illallah wa afdala duaa and the best supplication
is alhamdulillah the best form of dhikr is
la ilaha illallah and the best form of
duaa is alhamdulillah now those already are the
best phrases that you can say but there
is a time in your life and la
ilaha illallah is probably the most frequent dhikr
that you make as a Muslim but there
is a time in your life where it
will be harder to say than any other
possible word in your vocabulary and that is
the moment that you're leaving this world yuthabbitullahu
allatheena amanu bilqawli thabit Allah azawajal gives firmness
to those who believe with a firm word
what is that firm word that moment of
leaving this world and someone says to you
and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam says prompt
your dying ones to say la ilaha illallah
it's so hard to say at those moments
you see tongues tied you see hearts shut
you see eyes closed before someone can utter
la ilaha illallah may Allah allow each and
every single one of us to have their
dying words be la ilaha illallah because the
first thing you're asked in your grave man
rabbuk who is your Lord and it doesn't
matter at that point how many people stood
over you as you were being buried and
said when the angel comes to you say
Allah because when the angel comes to you
it will shake you in a way that
only a person who has that deep foundation
of la ilaha illallah will be able to
say la ilaha illallah so it's a frequent
dhikr the best form of remembrance is la
ilaha illallah and the best time to say
it is the hardest time of your life
which is the last moment of your life
may Allah azawajal allow us to say it
likewise when it comes to alhamdulillah the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wasallam taught us about the blessings
of alhamdulillah the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said
that whoever eats food and says alhamdulillah all
praise is due to Allah who provided this
to me sufficed me with it with absolutely
no power or capacity of my own the
Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said Allah will forgive
him for everything that came before and the
one who wears a new a new dress
or a new garment and says alhamdulillah all
praises be to Allah who clothed me with
this without any power or capacity of my
own Allah will forgive them for everything that
preceded because there's an obvious blessing the easiest
thing to say when Allah gifts you with
a blessing it's instinctive as alhamdulillah alhamdulillah alhamdulillah
you won't find many Muslims tongue-tied at
that moment when you shake them and say
hey congratulations alhamdulillah even a person who's barely
practicing Islam at their graduation at their wedding
or when something obvious happens alhamdulillah alhamdulillah alhamdulillah
the real test is when a blessing is
being taken away and it's more rewardable at
that point the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said
in an authentic narration in the afdala ibadillah
that the most blessed and virtuous of the
slaves of Allah on the day of judgment
are alhamdulillah may Allah make us amongst them
people of praise people of praise you see
they are identified by that praise because it's
not circumstantial praise it's a condition that they
have they are people of hamd they're people
who praise Allah subhanaw taala as the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wasallam said in good and in
bad times they're hamdulillah they're identified by the
praise because the praise is not circumstantial it's
not conditional it's who they are anything that
happens to them they immediately say alhamdulillah alhamdulillah
and who was the most obvious manifestation of
that Habibuna sallallahu alayhi wasallam our beloved one
alayhi salatu wassalam who was authentically narrated that
when the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam had something
good happen to him something that made him
happy he said alhamdulillah all praise is due
to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala who by
his favor all favors are completed all blessings
are made complete so he praised Allah specifically
alhamdulillah ladhi bni'matihi tatimu sarihat it's by his
favor that these blessings became complete when something
good came to him sallallahu alayhi wasallam and
when something bad happened to him or something
distressed him he responded alhamdulillahi ala kulli hal
alhamdulillahi ala kulli hal all praise is due
to Allah in every situation the words that
Marcellus wrote on his last statement all praise
is due to Allah in every situation and
he used to seek refuge alayhi salatu wassalam
to be from those who are minhali ahlin
nar to be in the situation of the
people of * so he would thank Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala ala kulli hal for
every situation he would seek refuge in Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala minhali ahlin nar to
be from the circumstances or to have a
circumstance or to be of the state of
the people of hellfire so it was hand
from him sallallahu alayhi wasallam he was always
grateful to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala he
every single time when he suffers alayhi salatu
wassalam or when he is satisfied he's driven
to the same state and words of praise
if you saw him in sajda alayhi salatu
wassalam if you walked into a masjid and
you saw him in prostration you wouldn't know
if something really bad just happened to him
or if something really good just happened to
him because both the bad and the good
drove him to the same place his sajda
alayhi salatu wassalam drove him to the same
praise his hamd sallallahu alayhi wassalam his tears
were of gratitude no matter what alhamdulillah alhamdulillah
alhamdulillah lali bini'matihi tatimu salihat alhamdulillahi ala kulli
hat sometimes your body language when someone asks
you how are you you say alhamdulillah your
body language contradicts your words the Prophet sallallahu
alayhi wasallam said the words and he explained
what he meant by the words alayhi salatu
wassalam what's the difference between the two and
I want us to reflect on this bi
'idhnillahi ta'ala with the few minutes that
we have when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
gives you a blessing there is an obvious
manifestation of his karam an obvious manifestation of
his bounty of his generosity and so your
alhamdulillah is thanking Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
for an obvious blessing and a seen attribute
of his generosity subhanahu wa ta'ala it's
different the opposite is true when Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala tests you with something when
he afflicts you with something when you say
alhamdulillah ala kulli hat when you praise Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala and thank Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala for every situation in that
state you are praising Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala for an unseen blessing behind a seen
trial and you are explicitly praising Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala from a place of tawakkul
from a place of trusting Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala's wisdom his unseen wisdom rather than
his obvious generosity so there's a different manifestation
of a blessing and there's a different attribute
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that you're
connecting yourself to and if you were to
take any one of us and you were
to say which one is harder to recognize
obviously it's the latter not the former obviously
it's the latter not the former and the
former is to prepare you for the latter
just like your practice of la ilaha illallah
in times of ease and in times where
you're not dying where you're alive where you
can feel your heart beating where it's easy
to say la ilaha illallah is to train
you to say la ilaha illallah for the
most consequential time in your existence on this
earth likewise your hamd alhamdulillah you get yourself
used to alhamdulillah alhamdulillah alhamdulillah so that as
soon as something strikes you your heart your
mind your tongue go to a familiar place
you know subhanAllah you think about a person
who curses regularly who complains regularly what makes
you think that if you curse and complain
regularly you're suddenly going to garner up the
most important word of your life that contradicts
your nature under more distressing circumstances look at
brother marcellus and i hold myself guilty guilty
i haven't followed his case until last week
guilty i didn't know about the brother guilty
unfortunately we wait sometimes until people are at
the end of their journey to take interest
in their plight may allah forgive us for
our deficiency in regards to him and the
many innocent people innocent people that are in
this criminal criminal justice system but i started
to watch some of his old interviews hamd
flows alhamdulillah alhamdulillah i guarantee you that's a
brother who on death row and in prison
they don't serve you good food on death
that would say alhamdulillah when he finished his
food i guarantee you that's a brother who
if he got a moment with his family
would say alhamdulillah you don't garner that stuff
up at the last moment of your life
unless it was a familiar place during your
entire life so when is the most praiseworthy
praise it's when the least obvious blessing is
present to you when tests you and afflicts
you and at that moment the same person
the same heart the same tongue that would
praise allah for the obvious blessing for his
obvious karam for his obvious generosity can praise
allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for the unseen
blessing and the unseen wisdom and that is
all of these are expressions of praise to
allah subhanahu wa ta'ala because at the
end of the day they are all admissions
of our vulnerability to understand to think to
do in a way that matches what allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala has given to us
we're admitting deficiency with all of those statements
and so they are all statements of hamd
they're all statements of praise alhamdulillah we belong
to allah a statement of humility allah azzawajal
knows and i don't know a statement of
humility a statement of praise you're praising allah's
knowledge allah subhanahu wa ta'ala controls and
i don't control you're praising allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala's power you're praising allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala's authority and the best alhamdulillah is
the one you say with a smile on
your face or the heart that's beating with
praise because let me tell you something rasulullah
sallallahu alaihi wasallam didn't feel sorry for himself
we read his seerah we feel sorry when
we go through the moments of devastation the
moments of him burying his children the moments
of rejection the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam didn't
feel sorry for himself it's important for us
as well not to feel sorry for ourselves
but to say alhamdulillah for everything that allah
azawajal has given to us to be grateful
for may allah make us from alhamadun may
allah make us from those who praise him
in every situation may allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala enable us to properly thank him to
properly remember him to properly praise him allahumma
you