Omar Suleiman – When ItS Hard To Say Alhamdulilah – Marcellus Williams
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
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
wa sallam 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
ala kulli hal.
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 Azawajal tests you
to have to bury that child that you
welcomed into this world.
The one that the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi 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 Alaihi Wasallam said اِنَّ أَفْضَلَ
الذِّكْرِ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَى اللَّهِ The best form
of remembrance of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala
is لا إِلَهَ إِلَى اللَّهِ وَأَفْضَلُ الدُّعَاءِ And
the best supplication is alhamdulillah.
The best form of dhikr is لا إِلَهَ
إِلَى اللَّهِ and the best form of dua
is alhamdulillah.
Now those already are the best phrases that
you can say.
But there is a time in your life
and لا إِلَهَ إِلَى اللَّهِ 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.
يُثَبِّتُ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا بِالْقَوْلِ الثَّابِتِ 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 Alaihi Wasallam says prompt your dying ones
to say لا إِلَهَ إِلَى اللَّهِ 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
لا إِلَهَ إِلَى اللَّهِ May Allah allow each
and every single one of us to have
their dying words be لا إِلَهَ إِلَى اللَّهِ
Because the first thing you're asked in your
grave من ربك?
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 الله Because when the angel
comes to you it will shake you in
a way That only a person who has
that deep foundation of لا إِلَهَ إِلَى اللَّهِ
will be able to say لا إِلَهَ إِلَى
اللَّهِ So it's a frequent ذكر, أفضل ذكر
The best form of remembrance is لا إِلَهَ
إِلَى اللَّهِ And the best time to say
it is the hardest time of your life
Which is the last moment of your life.
May Allah allow us to say it Likewise
when it comes to الحمد لله The Prophet
ﷺ taught us about the blessings of الحمد
لله The Prophet ﷺ said that whoever eats
food and says الحمد لله الذي أطعمني هذا
ورزقنيه من غير حول مني ولا قوة 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 ﷺ said غُفِرَ لَهُ مَا تَقَدَّمَ مِن
ذَنْبِهِ 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 الحمد لله الذي كساني هذا من
غير حول مني ولا قوة All praise is
due to Allah who clothed me with this
without any power or capacity of my own
غُفِرَ لَهُ مَا تَقَدَّمَ مِن ذَنْبِهِ Allah will
forgive them for everything that proceeded because there's
an obvious blessing The easiest thing to say
when Allah gifts you with a blessing its
instinctive is الحمد لله الحمد لله الحمد لله
You won't find many Muslims tongue-tied at
that moment when you shake them and say
hey Congratulations الحمد لله even a person who's
barely practicing Islam at their graduation at their
wedding or when something obvious happens الحمد لله
الحمد لله الحمد لله But the real test
Is when a blessing is being taken away,
and it's more rewardable at that point The
Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said in an
authentic narration إِنَّ أَفْضَلَ عِبَادِ اللَّهِ That the
most blessed and virtuous of the slaves of
Allah on the Day of Judgment are الحمدون
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
subhanahu wa'ta'ala as the Prophet sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam said in good and in bad
times They're حمدون.
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 الحمد لله الحمد لله and
who was the most obvious manifestation of that
حبيبنا صلى الله عليه وسلم our beloved one
عليه الصلاة والسلام Who was authentically narrated that
when the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam had
something good happen to him Something that made
him happy.
He said الحمد لله الذي بنعمته تتم الصالحات
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 الحمد لله الذي
بنعمته تتم الصالحات It's by his favor that
these blessings became complete when something good came
to him.
Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and When something bad
happened to him or something distressed him.
He responded الحمد لله على كل حال الحمد
لله على كل حال 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 عليه الصلاة والسلام
To be from those who are من حال
أهل النار To be in the situation of
the people of * So he would thank
Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala على كل حال for
every situation He would seek refuge in Allah
subhanahu wa'ta'ala من حال أهل النار 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 wa sallam.
He was always grateful to Allah subhanahu wa'ta
'ala He every single time When he suffers
عليه الصلاة والسلام or when he is satisfied
He's driven to the same state and words
of praise if you saw him in such
that عليه الصلاة والسلام 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 صجد عليه الصلاة والسلام Drove him
to the same praise his حمد.
Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam His tears were of
gratitude No matter what الحمد لله الحمد لله
الحمد لله الذي بنعمته تتم الصالحات الحمد لله
على كل حال Sometimes your body language when
someone asks you.
How are you saying الحمد لله Your body
language contradicts your words The Prophet sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam said the words and he explained
what he meant by the words عليه الصلاة
والسلام What's the difference between the two and
I want us to reflect on this بإذن
الله تعالى with the few minutes that we
have When Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala gives you
a blessing there is an obvious manifestation of
his كرم an obvious manifestation of his bounty
of his generosity and So your الحمد لله
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 الحمد لله على كل
حال 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
توكل 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 لا إله إلا الله
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 لا إله إلا الله is to
train you to say لا إله إلا الله
For the most consequential time in your existence
on this earth Likewise your حمد الحمد لله
you get yourself used to الحمد لله الحمد
لله الحمد لله الحمد لله 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
I 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
Hamd Allah Hamd Allah.
I guarantee you.
That's a brother who on death row and
in prison They don't serve you good food
on death row.
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 Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala 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 hasbuna Allah wa ni'ma alwakeel Inna
lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'oon 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 inna lillahi
We belong to Allah a statement of humility
Allah azza wa jal 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 alayhi wa sallam
didn't feel sorry for himself We read his
seerah alayhi salatu wassalam we feel sorry when
we go through the moments of Devastation the
moments of him burying his children the moments
of rejection the prophets my son 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 azza
wa jal has given to us to be
grateful for May Allah make us from alhamdulillah.
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
a'inna ala dhikrika wa shukrika wa husni
ibadatika Allahumma ameen Innaka
sami'un qareebun wujeebu da'wat Allahumma khafir
lana warhamna wa a'afu anna wa la
tu'adhibna Rabbana zalamna anfusana wa in lam
takfir lana watarhamna lanakoon nanna minal khasireen Allahumma
innaka a'afuun kareemun tuhibbul a'afu wa
fa'afu anna Allahumma khafir li waleedina Rabbulhamma
kama rabboona sighara Rabbana hab lana min azwajina
wa dhuriyatina qurra ta'ayun wa ja'anna
lil muttaqina imama Allahumma ansur ikhwanil mustad'afeen
fi masharikil ardu magharibiha Allahumma ansur ahlul ghazza
Allahumma ansur ikhwanina fi filasteen wa fi sudan
wa fi kulli makan Allahumma alayka bi a'daiki
a'da ad-deen Allahumma ahliki alzaalimeena bi alzaalimeen
wa akhrijna wa ikhwanina min bayni yumsaalimeen Ibadallah
inna Allah ya'muru bil adli wal ihsan wa
ita'idil qurba wa yanha anil fahsha'i
wal munkari wal baghi ya'idukum la'al
lakum tadhakaroon fadhkuru Allah yadhkurukum wa shkuruhu ala
ni'ma ee zid lakum