Omar Suleiman – The Shadows of My Worries

			So like what happened to the Labor Council?
		

			apologists now 100 in our slot or someone else when he was talking to he woman writer. So I want to
welcome you all back and 100 in LA. We are continuing our nightly reflections. As I said, the only
exception is going to be our Wednesday nights where we'll have a webinar
		

			webinar dot yaqeen institute.org and yesterday we covered community institution next week we'll
cover family and shuttle on Wednesday night and then the week after that we'll talk about the
individual and how to build resilience as an individual and then the week after that inshallah, the
Wednesday, the fourth Oban Benigni title, we'll be doing Ramadan prep, inshallah. So what I wanted
to talk about today was actually this profound saying that I feel like matches up very much. So with
what we're encountering right now. We have worries, we have obstacles, we have things in front of us
that causes great anxiety. And our worries are often of a changing nature. And one worry goes away
		

			only to be replaced by another. And so you get out of one circumstance, and then another one
presents itself to you. Sometimes things that can be anticipated. Sometimes things that were feared
for a long time, sometimes things that you never could have anticipated at all. So if anyone were to
tell us, you know, a few months ago that this would be our situation right now.
		

			With this Coronavirus pandemic, very few of us would have been able to fathom such a thing, right.
And that's sort of the state of our politics. It's a state of so many different things, the changing
nature of things around us. And of course, as we said, two nights ago, when we talked about this
idea of 99 names of one God, you need to be able to connect every single one of those circumstances
to a name of Allah. So that as you connect to all of those names, with your changing circumstances,
you develop a connection to the one who never changes to the one who has never shaken to the one who
is who is never affected by the changes that take place around. Now, with those worries, though,
		

			oftentimes, it comes down to perspective. And there's a wrong way to look at them. And a very proper
way to look at them. The wrong way to look at them is to say that they don't exist, is to dismiss
them, is to pretend like there is nothing to be afraid of, is to, you know, to say that there is no
concern and there's nothing that we can do about our situation. And what that leads to, is a lack of
taking our own means to better our situation, as well as the lack of trust and the loss of one time.
The other thing, the other way of looking at this is to keep your worries in perspective, and the
same that I was talking about. And you notice the titles, the shadows of our worries, there's a
		

			proverb that I really love, that worry often gives a small thing, a big shadow, worry often gives a
small thing, a big shadow. And if you think about the Hadith of the Prophet sly Southern where he
talks about poverty, and he sets the lights on whoever wakes up in the night. And this dunya the
material world is their greatest time is their greatest worry, john, Allah subhanahu beignet, Allah
will put poverty between his two eyes. And so if you think about an object in front of your two
eyes, and if you put it right between your two eyes, the inflated size of those objects of that
object is significant. And the same that that worry often gives a small thing a big shadow, a kind
		

			of reminds me of that. Why because if you think about the things that are in front of us, when you
take a challenge that's ahead of you, and you focus on the shadow of that challenge, then you give
it too much weight in your life. And so you don't bother conquering the obstacle, you don't take the
means that are necessary to be able to conquer that, that challenge or that obstacle that lies
ahead. Because you're so worried about the shadow, you always go worst case scenario, you're
thinking about things, you know, in a very in a very,
		

			you know, in a very troubling way in which you, you assign greater weight to your challenges. Now,
how do we deal with that? Okay?
		

			If you think about the beauty of the simple words, Allahu Akbar, God is greater. God is greater
Allahu Akbar. Allah is greater than your worries about him and his Nick, Allah is greater than your
grief. A lot is greater than your obstacles, a lot is greater than your ease a lot is greater than
all of those things. And the way that we say that every single time, not not just when we start our
prayers, but every motion that we make in prayer, we remind ourselves Allahu Akbar, God is greater.
And we constantly say that throughout the day. What that does is instead of the shadow of the
concern and the challenge that lies ahead, it minimizes the
		

			Shadow. And it causes you to focus on the enormity of a loss all encompassing greatness. Allows
greatness encompasses all things in company encompasses the heavens and the earth. The obstacle
that's ahead of you, while it may be an obstacle doesn't need to be given a shadow, focus on the
size of that obstacle. And as big as you think the obstacle is, remember, Allahu Akbar, God is
greater than that obstacle. And this is something that we often will remind ourselves of, when
you're talking about an enemy or someone that oppresses you or someone that harms you, right? fella
talk, show him what's shown, don't fear them, fear me. You know, it can Allah Hallmark from an
		

			attic, if Allah God is with you, who can be against you, right? So we often think about this in
terms of putting our enemies in perspective, that God is greater than our enemies. God is greater
than those who persecute God is greater than those dictators and those oppressors and those that
harm. But what happens when you remove the personification of that enemy of that challenge, and you
still see it in the same light, don't fear it, fear him. Don't be intimidated by it. But instead,
focus on him. Right? This cannot defeat you. This cannot overcome you. Allah can overcome it. You
can overcome it with your Lord with your trust in Allah subhana wa Tada. So take the means. And this
		

			is that balance that we constantly speak of, do what you have to do to overcome that obstacle, but
don't give it a greater shadow than it actually has. And don't forget the greatness of your Lord
that would allow you to conquer that obstacle no matter what. Right? So for that talk, show him walk
shoni Don't worry about them worry about me. Don't worry about it. worry about me focus on the last
panel, a town a lot can help us overcome anything that's ahead of us. And yes, these challenges are
legitimate, the things that we're going to face as individuals, obviously, with with with varying
degrees are going to be significant, but a lot is greater than whatever challenge lies ahead.
		

			Minimize the shadow, focus on the last greatness, minimize the fear of it, focus on the greatness of
him, We ask Allah subhanaw taala to allow us to be amongst those that truly put our trust in Him.
And to allow us to conquer whatever challenges lie ahead. We asked him, not to leave us to
ourselves, for when we are left to ourselves, then we will be defeated even by the smallest thing in
front of us, but instead to be with us so that we can defeat and overcome even things that appear to
be greater than us with His greatness. subhanho wa Taala I mean, does that come along? Hayden. I'll
see you all tomorrow in sha Allah. I'll be going live in sha Allah at 2pm Eastern because it's
		

			Friday tomorrow, and also tomorrow night inshallah so don't want to lie.